Posts Tagged ‘training in sales’

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The Death Of Boring White Papers

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010


Jason Cornish was a habitually early riser. As a result, the offices of Wakeman Industries were usually dark upon his arrival. Threading his way through the warren of cubicles, softly lit by the morning sun, Jason stopped for a brief moment outside his office.

He’d left early the previous day-the unopened and unread mail still in a pile on the edge of his assistant’s desk. With a sigh Jason picked up the bundle and began to sort through it.

As the Vice President for Human Resources for a $750 million diversified manufacturer, Jason seemed to be on the hit list for every consultant and headhunter on the eastern seaboard. It wasn’t that he didn’t use their services, in fact he was desperately in need of some specialized assistance, but finding just the right advisor was quickly becoming much harder than he anticipated.

One thing was certainly clear-he wasn’t going to find what he needed from his existing network of contacts. That track had been lapped multiple times. Thus, he’d put the word out three weeks ago that he was open to learning about new firms and experts. Since then, the trickle of white papers and reports that came across his desk had turned into a veritable tsunami.

“The problem”, thought Jason, “was the mind-numbing boredom of sorting through all this. Damn, can’t any of these consultants learn to write something that someone might actually want to read?”

He stared blank-eyed at a 37 page, embossed report with the grab-them-by-the-eyeballs title of, “The Integrated Implementation Of Leadership Values-How The World’s Most Successful Companies Achieve Superior Performance Through An Empowered Workforce.”

“Amazing”, reflected Jason, “could they get a title that was both more consulting-speak and yet more boringly generic? There’s got to be a real art to that. I wonder if they teach that at Harvard.”

Jason put down the report with a sigh and glanced at the pile in front of him. Something got his eye. Yes, it was another white paper, but there was something about this that caused him to pause. Perhaps it was the first sentence. It read:

“They all look the same to me” thundered Mike Sullivan to his assistant, “How in the world do they expect me to decide who to hire if they all sound, look and read the same?”

Jason reached over and picked up the report. “Now this is different”, he thought, as he settled back in his chair and began to read.

It’s estimated that less than 10% of business books that are purchased are actually ever read. If business books that someone actually pays money for are so seldom read, how small is the readership of white papers and free reports? And more importantly, how can we increase that percentage?

To find an answer we conducted an admittedly non-scientific study. Two follow up surveys to people who had requested two different free report. Let’s see how many of the reports actually got read and if anyone remembers anything about them. Although the two companies that agreed to participate in our non-scientific study offered different services, they were both in the human resources consulting field.

Off we went to see what we could learn.

In the first study we enlisted the services of a call center and placed calls to 275 people who had requested our client’s free report. We reached 195. The rest didn’t respond to repeated voice mail messages although we stated the purpose of the call. Despite positioning the call as “research”, it’s fair to guess that some percentage of them thought this was just a disguised sales pitch.

Of the 195 we talked with, a meager 23 said that they had actually read the report. Follow up questions made it clear that an additional 60% had started to read the report, but quickly gave up. That turns out to be a very significant statistic.

The subject of the report we were tracking discussed 7 mistakes that executives commonly made concerning a particular business problem. We asked the 23 who said they read the report to name 4 of the mistakes. How about 2? One? To their credit 75% of those we spoke with were able to name one mistake.

Admittedly many of these mistakes were somewhat “blinding grasps of the obvious” so it’s hard to determine whether they knew the answer as a result of reading the report, or whether it was knowledge they already had. Still, given the amount of work that this company had put into writing and producing the report, these results were sobering.

On we went to our second survey.

Our sample was slightly smaller, consisting of 226 people who requested the report. However, 101 people agreed to speak with us. Again the report’s message focused on mistakes executives made around a particular business issue. When we asked a series of similar “recall” questions, an impressive 65% could name 3 or more of them.

Obviously the second report resonated to a far greater extent than the first one. Even more importantly, the message from the second report was remembered and retained.

So what was the difference? I imagine you can guess the answer. In much the same way as our lead character Jason Cornish, introduced in the beginning of this chapter, was drawn to one of the white papers that sat on this desk-so too were our survey participants drawn to one report and not the other.

The simple difference? One conveyed facts. The other told a story.

Certainly something to think about.
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Need a Unique Sales Story that differentiates you from your competition? Send an email to mark@gentlerainmarketing.com and we’ll set up a time to talk. Please reference this blog post. Thanks!

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How To Get Prospects To Pay Attention To You

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010


One of the key challenges in any sales presentation is communicating a message that makes prospects pay attention. Amid all the clutter and noise that exists in the marketplace, how do we get those with whom we most want to do business with, to pay attention to us?

Obviously, that’s a complex question and the answer quite frankly is that there are a lot of factors. But if we go to ground zero, that point where we are first trying to get attention, there is one element that we most want to focus on.

The Problem.

That’s what gets attention. That’s what makes people say, “Perhaps I should learn a bit more.” It doesn’t mean that they’re going to get them to hire us. It doesn’t mean that they’re going to give us money. But, the right problem, presented in a way that is compelling and intriguing, can be the proverbial spark that starts the dry brush ablaze.

However, what do most people do? How do they try to capture attention? Ironically (and mostly ineffectively) they talk about themselves. The opening salvo usually takes one of two forms. Sometimes it’s the ubiquitous, “This is what I do:”

“I’m a lawyer, realtor, financial advisor, headhunter, butcher, baker candlestick-maker. “

What’s the response? Typically, “Oh.”

Or they try this…

Those that have been to sales training 101 (but didn’t stay through the whole thing) know that this is not enough. So they confidently answer, “We offer the worlds most researched solution on extrapolating data through software integration.”

“How very nice for you.”

Answers like these are what my friend Don refers to as “Hammers in search of a nail.” Realistically how many of us really know what software integration is? Or care?

So what’s the answer? How can we make people care? One of the most effective ways is to put the answer in the context of something that I can understand. Something I can relate to. And what might that be? Simply put, it’s a story.

What compelling sales stories have in common is that they address a problem. Some sort of gap between what the main character desires and his or her current state. It could be desire for money, success, confidence, respect or any of another basic human goals. With business stories it’s usually something a bit more pragmatic: increased sales, improved employee morale or reducing costs.

The point is that if you want to get someone’s attention you need to focus on the problems that you solve. Even if the person you’re speaking to doesn’t suffer from that particular problem, by focusing on problems rather than some bland recitation about what you “do”, you’ll dramatically increase the likelihood that they will remember you.

Let’s take the marketing consultant as an example. She could try to get attention by saying, “I’m a marketing consultant.” In one ear and out the other. Let’s try again.

She could say, “I offer an integrated turn-key solution to help my clients get more new clients.”

Hmmm. Still a bit of the “hammer in search of a nail.”

It’s hard to visualize what she really does. And that’s the key. We need to get what we do visualized in the person’s brain. We need for it to come alive.

So how do we do that? We need to paint a picture. We need to tell a story. Like this:

“On a fundamental level I help my clients get more new business. The challenge most of them face is that they’re the ‘best kept secret’ in their marketplace. I show them how to get more referrals by communicating unique sales stories about what they do.”

So let’s examine this last answer in a bit more detail. Certainly it’s longer and that may take a bit of getting used to. Since most everyone describes what they do in 15 words or less we feel compelled to do so as well. Resist that temptation. If you have something interesting to say, your reader or listener will stick with you.

So this answer starts by framing the topic by focusing on a large problem-getting more new clients. However, she doesn’t stop there. She immediately drills down on a highly specific problem (being the “best kept secret”) that she helps solve. She then concludes by transitioning into what she offers. However it’s important to note, that she is very specific about how she helps.

What our marketing lady has done here is to paint a picture in our minds. We can now easily visualize a problem she works on. In all likelihood she probably works on many different problems and depending upon the situation she is in, she draws upon different answers. However, each answer follows the same format of hooking attention by focusing on a problem.
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Want me to work with you on developing you own Unique Sales Story? Send an email to mark@gentlerainmarketing.com and we’ll set up a time to talk. Please reference this blog post. Thanks!

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Why This Kills Your Business

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010


Let me tell you a quick story, and while it may not appear so, it actually does tie into the topic of this article.

Has this ever happened to you? You go to a restaurant that you’ve never been to before. Place looks nice. Perhaps the menu is a bit more extensive than you thought, so you ask your waiter/waitress/waitperson (or is it server/servess/serve-person?), what’s really good?

What do you so often hear?

“Well, we serve a lot of the chicken.”

That’s an interesting answer but it’s not the question we asked. However, according to restaurant consultant Michael Simmons, it is the answer that most people are happy with.

Michael explains: “What we find is that most people want to make the safe choice. Thus if the server tells someone that a restaurant sells a lot of chicken, the patron feels that they are making a good decision. Of course what is not really ever answered is whether the chicken is actually any good.”

The point to this brief story is that this same sort of mentality is also found among business owners and consultants when it comes to marketing or promoting their business. In fact the first step that most owners take when embarking on a “let’s get some new business” initiative is to visit the websites of companies who offer similar products or services.

That’s actually not a bad first step. However, it’s what takes place next that is the usually colossal mistake. Instead of looking at the competition and then doing something different, what is the far more typical reaction? They look at the competitor’s site and then copy it. In marketing circles this is what is often referred to as “the mad rush to the middle.”

“Hey Joe, I see that our competitors have a headline on their website, ‘Will you have enough money for retirement’. Maybe we should be that too.” And companies wonder why prospects have a hard time differentiating between them.

If you want to stand out in a crowded marketplace the solution isn’t all that particularly difficult or complex. There are really only a few steps to the process.

First, create a unique signature sales story about who you are, the problems you solve and the benefits that clients get from working with you. The key word here is “unique”. Make sure that it’s a story that no one else is telling. How do you do that? One simple method is by having the characters in the story be you, your friends, your clients and associates. Another simple way to create uniqueness is to tell the story about why you’re doing what you’re doing. How did you get into the business? Why is this your passion, or at least a strong interest in you life? No one can tell that story but you.

The second step is placing the story somewhere so that people can get it. A simply one page website is the easiest way to do that. Basic one page websites with an opt-in form cost less than $300 to put up.

Now, here’s a tip that’s real important if you want to get lots more clients banging at your door and giving you their business. Make sure that you only tell part of the story on your website. Give them enough that they’re hooked and want to learn more. Give them enough so that they say to themselves, “This is different from what I’ve read on the last 10 websites I’ve visited. I’d be interested in learning more.”

Naturally, in order to learn more and get the rest of the story they have to opt-in and become a subscriber. Now you’ve got permission to send them additional emails or newsletters that tell additional unique sales stories that build trust, credibility and eventually motivate large percentages of them to take action.

Once you’ve got this little teeny-tiny one page website set up, then it is simply a matter of getting the word out so that you get visitors coming to the page and reading your story. There are lots of ways to do that: social media, advertising, direct mail, videos, speaking, articles, the list goes on and on.

But it all starts with the unique sales story. The one that only you can tell. The one that won’t be found on your competitor’s website.

So the next time you’re in a restaurant and you hear, “We sell a lot of chicken.” Don’t accept that answer (either for yourself or your business). Ask them again. “No, what’s really good?” And then take a look at your website and marketing materials. Are you communicating what’s really good about you? What’s unique?
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This sales letter made me a lot of money. I’d like to share it with you for FREE. Go get it HERE

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Don’t Get Enough Referrals? Here’s Why

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010


To say I was frustrated would be an understatement. I had been a member of this peer support networking group for over a year. I had not only explained in a presentation to the group what I did but had made a point to take each member out to lunch to make sure they understood. Look, you can’t get referrals if people don’t know who you are and what you do, so I wasn’t leaving any proverbial stone unturned.

Our meetings were always on the third Tuesday of the month. Occasionally our group leader would invite an outside speaker to come in. That’s what happened on a fine spring day in June, and led me to sitting in my car fuming at the unfairness of it all.

Jim Brinkman is a pretty impressive guy. He’s obviously a polished speaker and his stories about the marketing problems his clients faced are entertaining, well told, and make a lot of good points. Although Jim was technically a direct competitor to me, I found that I was enjoying his presentation a lot. So too were the other members of my peer support networking group.

“Great presentation” intoned Alan Jameson, our group’s leader. “When you were telling us that story about how you helped that chiropractor differentiate his services, that reminded me that I’ve got someone who could really use your help.”

“Your right Alan”, said Tom Treadway, who for the past 11 months had sat to my left at these meetings. “My neighbor only last week said that he needed some help in updating his sales messages-here, let me give you his name.”

I sat there in stunned silence, hardly believing what I was hearing. “These leads would be perfect for me!”, I thought to myself. “Why haven’t you guys talked to me about them?”

The meeting quickly broke up and 10 minutes later there I sat in my car pondering the unfairness of life. “Those ungrateful jerks” I steamed, “I’ll show them. I’ll be damned if I ever refer them any business.” Round and round I went, in an amazingly effective display of mental consternation.

Until I eventually ran out of steam and I began to reflect on what had just occurred with a bit more patience and perspective. “Maybe they don’t like me. Maybe they don’t trust me. Maybe they don’t think I’m competent.” I didn’t know what the answer was as to why I wasn’t getting the referrals I so desperately wanted, but I was bound and determined to find out.

Among all of the group I was the closest to Laura Sinclair. So a couple of days later I invited her out for coffee. I was determined to get an answer to why Jim Brinkman after one 30 minute presentation had received the referrals that had eluded me for 14 months.

“Look Laura, I’d really appreciate your candid advice. I’ve been a member of this group for over a year and have barely received any referrals. This guy Jim Brinkman comes in and picks off two great ones in less than an hour. What gives? Do people not like me? Trust me? Think I’m not competent? You’ve got to help me here, I’m really frustrated.”

Laura’s answer both surprised me and set me on a new path. One that ultimately increased my monthly referrals from zero a month to over a dozen.

“No Mark” Laura said, “It’s got nothing to do with any of that. Everyone that I know really likes and respects you. I guess it’s that we just don’t really understand what you do for clients. To be completely honest, I’m not 100% sure who you work with and what kinds of problems your best at solving. I know you’ve gone to great pains to educate us on that but I’m afraid that it either didn’t sink in or somehow just didn’t register.

When Jim spoke to us I found that I was interested in the stories he told. Even if I couldn’t directly relate to some of them-there was that one about a chiropractor and I never been to one-the problem that the chiropractor faced is similar to issues I’m dealing with. The fact that he told us interesting stories enabled me to understand what he did, who he worked with and the types of successes his clients achieved.”

To say that a light bulb went off in my head would be a little over-dramatic, but that doesn’t minimize the importance of the message. As I reflected on what I had communicated in my presentations to the group and in the one on one meetings, I realized that it had been a laundry list of facts about what I did. Boring, completely forgettable facts.

What made Jim’s presentation interesting? What made it memorable? What motivated the audience to refer people to him? The simple difference was that he told stories. As my friend Laura said, “People don’t remember facts, but they do remember stories.” Once I shifted my communication strategy to creating and communicating unique sales stories, the number of quality referrals I received dramatically increased.
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This sales letter made me a lot of money. I’d like to share it with you for FREE. Go get it HERE

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The Best Sales Stories For Getting New Business

Monday, April 5th, 2010


OK perhaps the title of this is a bit grandiose, but it did get your attention. After all who want to read or listen to a sales story that’s dull or boring?

So what goes into the best sales stories? Although we can’t always pull this off, the best stories are ones that spark the imagination. Stories that enable us to visualize a desired outcome or experience. This last point is very important to keep in mind.

When we buy something, whether it be a tangible product or a service, we’re really not buying the “thing”. That’s not what primarily motivates us. What we crave is the experience that the purchase will give us. Buying a fancy watch doesn’t enable us to tell time any better. However when I purchased my first Rolex, it was the physical manifestation of a level of success I had achieved. I realize that it sounds somewhat silly as I type this, but I wanted to show the world that I was no longer someone who aspired to own a Rolex, I was someone who had achieved a level of success that enabled me to do so.

Much research has been done about the purchasing behavior in the luxury marketplace, and this desire to show “success” is a primary motivator behind the purchase of expensive cars, pens and other status objects. Thus, the more we can connect to the desires that our audience has, the more our story will resonate with them.

OK, that sounds find in theory, but how exactly do we do that? Here are some thoughts to keep in mind.

First, you need to write for a specific audience. One that you know and understand on a very deep level. This is the reason why niche marketing is so important. What we want to strive for in all of our sales and marketing stories is to have our readers and listeners see a reflection of themselves in what we are communicating. Not surprisingly, in order to do that, we need to target our message.

Secondly your story needs characters. To quote Stalin, “One death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.” If your story has characters that the reader or listener can relate to, the greater attention they’ll pay to what you have to say. Not surprisingly, the one of the best characters for your story is yourself.

Which brings me to a very important point.

However, despite knowing that I needed to tell stories and that stories needed characters, my first attempts at creating unique sales stories were mostly forgettable. The problem was that my character, me, wasn’t particularly sympathetic. My early stories were all about my successes and accomplishments. Looking back on those early attempts, it appears that I sprung into my profession without a single misstep along the way. Of course the reality was much more different. In fact my wife is often fond of saying that she wishes that I could get it right the first time just once.

Showing vulnerability wasn’t easy for me. I equated it with showing weakness. However, it was clear that my stories were not resonating with my audience so I figured it was worth a try. The results were significant. What I found was that by sharing this information, I showed that I wasn’t all that different from those who I was writing and speaking to. The only difference was that I was maybe a few steps ahead. What I knew I had learned from others, and from trial and error. It was that hard won wisdom that I wanted to share.

When I developed stories from that perspective, I found that I developed a deeper bond with my audience. By not focusing so intently on trying to convince people that I was an expert in my field, I somewhat ironically found that I was accomplishing just that.

Which leads me to the third piece in the puzzle. My wife Marian is a strong believer in what she calls “your authentic voice”. For more years than I care to admit, I looked at the style of those who seemed successful and tried to copy it. My thinking was that if it worked for them, it should work for me too. What I failed to realize is that the reason it worked for them was because it was their authentic voice, not mine.

The worse experience came when I spoke at a local Rotary group. I adopted a sales style that worked quite well for one of the well-known gurus in my field. Unfortunately it left my audience cold. In fact one lady wrote a note to me in which she stated that she “loathed” my presentation. Feedback like that certainly makes one rethink their approach.

I won’t say that my authentic voice was developed overnight. The real key for me was to relax and not worry about how others might perceive my message. To paraphrase Popeye, “We are what we are.” Once we accept that and focus on delivering our message rather than on impressing others, our authentic voice comes to the surface. Want to learn more? This may be of INTEREST

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Stop Being The “Best Kept Secret” In Your Market

Friday, April 2nd, 2010


If there is one problem that perplexes business owners more than others, it’s, “How do I differentiate my business from the competition?” This is a particularly challenging issue for services businesses.

So how can a consultant, advisor, or other services provider differentiate themselves from the competition? What’s the best way to stand out amid an ever increasingly competitive world? For many of the most successful companies the answer is increasingly to focus on telling stories. If you want more referrals or word-of-mouth buzz, telling stories about who you are, what you do and the benefits your clients receive by working with you, is one of the most powerful marketing strategies you can implement.

Unique sales stores can be used on your website, in your sales letters and your stay-in-touch communications. One of the great benefits of marketing using sales stories is that you can reuse one story multiple times without it losing its effectiveness. If one observes those companies that receive the greatest amount of referrals, the one factor they all have in common is that they are adept at developing and disseminating stories about their business.

What makes stories such powerful tool if your goal is to generate more referrals for your business? The primary reason is that stories are so much easier to remember than facts. If I tell you that an architectural firm has offices in Atlanta, St. Louis and San Diego, that information is likely to go in one proverbial ear and out the other.

However if I tell you a story about how the Atlanta office successfully bid on a project by drawing from the talents of one of their team members in the St. Louis office who had worked on the venerable St. Louis arch, and another from the San Diego office who had an intimate understanding of environmental design from work she had done at the San Diego zoo, the dynamics have changed.

First you are much more likely to actually remember the story. This is crucial. Not surprisingly the first step to getting referrals is having people actually remembering what it is that you do. Although this sounds simple and obvious, it’s actually pretty difficult to get your business remembered amid all the noise that exists in the world. Stories help enormously in that regard.

However, stories go far beyond simply increasing the likelihood that people will remember who you are. The true power of stories is that they intrigue people and make them curious to learn more. By engaging this natural curiosity, sales stories motivate readers and listeners to want to learn more. This is what is often referred to as selling invisibly.

Here is an interesting example for how this actually works. The sales letter that is credited with generating the largest amount of revenues is one that was written well over 40 years ago for the Wall Street Journal. This is how it began:

“Take two men. Both graduates of good universities. Both hardworking and ambitious.

Flash forward twenty years and one is in the corner office commanding the attention and respect of hundreds. The other toils amid the legions of middle managers in a largely obscure position. Why did one ascend to great heights and the other plateau so early?”

What made this letter so effective? The answer is simple. It told a story. As a result it creating curiosity and engaged the imagination of the reader. They wanted to learn more. They sincerely wanted to learn the answer to: “Why did one ascend to great heights and the other plateau so early?

This format for writing a sales story, called among copywriters as “Take Two People” is one of the most widely copied sales letters. It has been used to sell everything from consulting services to higher education.

So what types of stories could you tell about your company? What are the success stories that others would be interested in learning more about? Not surprisingly, creating excellent unique sales stories is both an art and a science. It is certainly far more than just simply sitting down and starting to type. There’s a process and system that makes stories interesting and memorable. It takes a bit of an investment of time and education in order to create stories that aren’t flat or lifeless. However, for virtually all business owners it is an investment that is well worth making.
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This sales letter made me a lot of money. I’d like to share it with you for FREE. Go get it HERE

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