The Nine Big Lies of Sales & Marketing - Part 2
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Lie #2:
'You've just got to get in front of more prospect.'
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Lie number two used to be the initial thing I'd say to myself when I woke up every morning.
Waking up each morning with a lie running through your brain is a very, very bad thing.
This one gave me ulcers. It makes me to spend untold hundreds of hours in my car, driving to see anyone who would permit me to walk through their door. It makes me to spend untold thousands of hours on the phone, trying to create appointments.
It also makes me to owe staggering amounts of money to Aunt Visa and Uncle Master Card.
Here's the Fact:
If you are nothing more than a 'sales person,' then nobody wants to see you, ever, because nobody is ever jazzed about having an adversarial discussion with you, whether they are going to buy something or not.
About 100 years ago, face-to-face selling was usually the only means to find out about the latest product or service. Not now.
We've got laptop right in our bedroom and a DSL line - and ANY TIME my wife or I want to find out about something, we jump right on the web and go find out. Just yesterday Laura and I were talking about housing prices and five minutes later we were browsing a real estate site and learning everything we wanted to know.
Isn't that a lot convenient and safer than inviting a real estate agent over for tea & crumpets?
You bet. But please understand the issue is NOT that real estate agents are old fashioned.
The issue is
1. Is the Internet really working FOR the agent, or AGAINST her?
2. Does she add real value to what the client can already get from the Internet? Is she positioning herself such that clients who are willing to do something see her as a valuable resource and call her when it's time to act? Or is she just a friendly face who just wants their listing?
She must clearly position herself as someone who drastically speeds up the buying or selling process and makes it MUCH EASIER for the buyer / seller to get what they desire.
OK, so how do you SHOW that you, as a sales person, make your client's
life easier - that time spent with you is time well spent?
Here's how: In your marketing, you focus on their problems and challenges, not your solution. You concentrate on the itch, not the scratch.
This might sound easy, but even so, rarely anybody really does this. If
you doubt me, then I suggest you pick up ANY magazine and flip through it.
Ask yourself this question as you view every ad:
'is this ad about my problem, or is it concerning somebody's product?'
Ninety percent of the time it's about their 'cool' product. And nobody really cares. The only thing people bother about is their problem.
So here's a major shift: Instead of being a salesman who's trying
to get in front of prospect, become a problem resolving Information Source. Usually it's written, information first and not a phone call.
You will get five times as many sales leads that way. No joke.
After you have offered information that assist resolve their problems, the next
logical step is for them to get to meet with you.
They call you initially - you don't have to call them first. And you walk through their door as a problem resolver and not a peddler.
This is what i call 'Information Marketing.
It is THE fundamental concept in my marketing system.
People are not interested in your solution. They are only interested in their problem.
Tomorrow I will talk about Lie #3:
'You should run some ads and get your name out there.'
See you soon,
To Your Success,
John Benjamin
Tired of spinning the wheel trying to make a buck online? Visit my
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