Sales Gladiator

A Poor Economy Offers many Unique Opportunites for Creative Minds

 

" . . . it only takes a bit of concerted action on any one of those ideas that you believe in to make your fortune. I just have one lifetime. I've already made 'my fortunes."

Some ideas seem so unbelievably obvious that we have to dumb ourselves down to even think it COULD BE A SUCCESS! I know that I have been caught in this trap. When I first saw the idea of the now well-known if not famous example of the infomercials one late night TV that I started seeing a few years ago for SNUGGIES! When I first saw it, I laughed critically and remarked to my wife that it was a stupid idea and a dub commercial. We made a habit of personally jesting about the commercials and doing mocking the commercials with our own spontaneous satirical remakes of the commercials every time we saw one.

"In that same vein is found the sizzle that you need to sell your product. You need to think about every possible problem that your products and services can solve."

Well, as you probably know, the joke was on us. I suppose those folks were laughing all the way to the bank. It has been one of the biggest marketing success yet of this century. "But it is just a stupid blanket, I have said ." But therein lies my point. I think this is what a famous old car salesman named Frank Betcher meant when he famously said, "Sell the sizzle, not the steak." What does that mean? I mean, really think abou5t that and try to verbalize in a simple paragraph what the saying means. It it is not easy. It isa lot deeper than you suspect. Within the meat behind this saying is a powerful sales lesson that you need to know. It has a lot to do with presentation.

Betcher wrote a great book on sales almost three-quarters of a century ago. I'll try to find a reference and include it in this post. Frank Becker's book is about car sales, but his concepts are universal marketing and sales concepts which can and should be applied today. I haven't consciously thought about that book in half a century, but I just realized that many of the concepts found therein are still with me. I read this book along time ago. I'm not sure that I understood it completely when I read it. I was a struggling young salesman (even when I was a photographer I still had to sell my services) who had little more than a need and a desire to make money.

There were not many good books about sales then. At first I thought Betcher's book was pretty lame. It seemed outdated and not vary applicable o either my market or my products. I was wrong.

"I sometimes try to help my wife "sell and market" her product and services to the point of her annoyance at times. She sometimes says, "Just stop! I can't even implement all the things I have put in motion this far."

Today, I am sometimes called idea-factory. That's not necessarily a good thing either. I have an almost uncontrollable flow of ideas about how to do this or that--and it is often focused upon sales and marketing tasks. My health keeps me penned up, without the action outlets that I once had. I help my wife "sell and market" her product and services to the point of her annoyance at times. She sometimes says, "Just stop! I can't even implement all the things I have put in motion this far." My bad. so I let them slip on through my head. Occasionally I capture a few notes on paper. I have a lifetime of notebooks that fill a small closet.

I will present more of these ideas for those who are interested. Maybe someday ages hence, someone will find boxes of notebooks at a garage sale and use them to make their fortune. No probably not. When I die, my kids will probably toss all these old yellowed notebooks and the ideas will then be gone--until someone else has them, writes them down, and takes time to implement them. You see, great ideas are a dime a dozen. But it only takes a bit of concerted action on any one of those ideas that you believe in to make your fortune. I just have one lifetime. I've already made "my fortunes".

Let me provide an idea that somewhat exemplifies the thought processes that you probably already are using. Maybe this will merely validate YOU and help you to have the courage to act on the.

These came on the fly and I happened to write them down. I would probably get into house-building during this down-turned economy--if I had one more lifetime. But here's how the ideas usually flow.

Okay, we had a bunch of storms during the recent Spring of 2011. They hit close to home Many peoples lives were disrupted. Many lives were lost. There have not been that many violent storms in our area for about a dozen years. They've been somewhere thoug, and the potential has always existed. It is just that we got lucky and were not hit head-on by the kinds of tornadoes that often go aloft or go around us or dissipate before arriving here. You know towns and cities in these parts only represent a small percentage of the total land-mass in most states.

I have sometimes noticed while driving cross-country on the Interstate highways a big swath of trees twisted and torn where an unmonitored tornado touched down. It went relatively unnoticed because it did not hurt anyone--or very few people. But tornadoes and extreme straight-line winds are constantly going on SOMEWHERE. The threat may be statistically very low for you being killed by a tornado any given season. Over time or during the compressed time of a really bad weather seasons, the odds star5t stacking against you. Ask the people in Joplin or Tuscaloosa about those statistics.

Given the other things a good storm-shelter can be used for. Things which are becoming more and more obviously useful, such as a constant-temperature emergency food-storage area or a safe-room for use in a home-invasion or even social unrest. You can read about such social unrest of out-of-control mobs due to food shortages, heat-waves, civil disobedience and what-not ANY DAY OF THE WEEK RIGHT HERE IN THE UNITED STATES. What if Iran gets the bomb. Lord knows, and they are just one. I'm not trying to fear-monger--I am jut sayin . . .

Now think about an idea that an enterprising builder might have.

I have long thought that a market for "small" houses now exists. I also feel that a good civil engineer would have the creds to design and endorse a structurally sound add-on or stand-a-lone storm shelter right now and even build and install them and make a fortune right now. New house builders have almost routinely been building them under carports for quite a few years. It is always considered and "extra expense" or a luxury.

". . . Anyone can play the "ain't if awful game". But what we want ot do is to carry this negative trend a step farther and play the "now lets fix it game." As a salesman and/or marketer, that's what you are. A fixer. I cannot think of any product or services that does into fix someones real or perceived needs. If yours does not, good luck with that. But I am sure it does."

Some smart marketer should present it as a "free bonus", and just build the cost into the overall estimate. If people ask for a price without it, say, "the same, it is free". That may sound stupid, but it could then be used to "spec out", as it is called, the competition. There are ways to present it in such a way that it is not optional and therefore must be met by the same specs and engineering creds so that the competition will never "get it" in time to win a bid.

I have previously expressed my thoughts about doing this same thing with "green" building almost to the extent of "free" energy. Over the long haul it really is free. "Pencil-selling" is the way Xerox sold their very expensive copiers and owned the entire industry for nearly fifty years. No one could figure out what they were doing. They were simply cost -justifying their high prices so that an ideal ROI (return on investment) is achieved. But it was all based on standard that they set up themselves. It's not lying, cheating, or doing anything illegal or unethical--it is merely "all in the presentation".

This is how inventions, ideas, plans, products, and services are born. Anyone can play the "ain't if awful game". But what we want ot do is to carry this negative trend a step farther and play the "now lets fix it game." As a salesman and/or marketer, that's what you are. A fixer. I cannot think of any product or services that does into fix someones real or perceived needs. If yours does not, good luck with that. But I am sure it does.

In that same vein is found the sizzle that you need to sell your product. You need to think about every possible problem that your products and services can solve. Write them down. There are undoubtedly problems that your product can solve that even the inventor and manufacturers haven't thought of. This requires true creative thought. A unique application for an existing product or service that you sell is just icing on the competitive cake that you can use to rule out the competition.

Edit Post - Sales Gladiator | TypePad

As a young man, I first consciously thought about the principle of exposure while camping out with a group of friends and running trot-lines. Trot-lines are a mostly Southern fishing phenomenon. It involves the use of a large span of stout line from which individual drop-hooks are weighted, baited and suspended at about two feet intervals along the main line.

While we youngsters would pile wood onto a overnight bonfire and stay up and swap lies and what not, a couple of of would take our turns about every hour or so and maneuver the boat along the line, re-baiting hooks where the bait had failed, and taking off the caught catfish--as big as sixty pounds or more. During the course of the night we could land a substantial haul, which we would sell or take home to our families to use in a family fish-fry.

Early did I this way learn a powerful truth. The more often you ran your lines, within reason, the more often you baited fresh hooks and plunged them back down into the murky night waters of the river, the more fish you would catch. Simply put, "If you want to catch a lot of fish, you must bait a of of hooks."

This simple universal knowledge, is a rule that any good salesman must eventually come to terms with. You can fool yourself into thinking you are working your butt off, by filling your time with busywork. But, until you concentrate that same time, or even less, upon "baiting hooks", your creel will remain mostly empty.

Although my examples will  now deal primarily with selling copiers, I can tell you that it works while selling any product, whether tangible or intangible. While selling copiers, you must cut to the chase, get past the water-cooler and coffee-machine chat, and focus on key benchmarks, which vicariously become your baited hooks. Telephone surveys, personal calls--cold or warm, mailers, thank you cards, asks for referrals, drop-offs, product shows and product demonstrations are the baited hooks.Unless you do them methodically and sensibly on a routine basis--no sales will occur. The more of these benchmarks you can meet, the more sales you'll make, and the more money you'll take home to your wife and kids.

When I sold copiers and later managed and as I taught other salesperson how to sell copiers and printing equipment, I used several benchmarks. Although the numbers must be adapted to any given territory, I worked a System of Tens or the ten-ten-ten plan. I have taught and implemented variants of this plan to numerous salesmen. The results were always simple and predictable. Those who followed my System, made sales and money. those who, for whatever reason, did not do as I suggested or in some cases insisted--fell behind, made few sales, and eventually were terminated or quit.

Here's the breakdown that I use, but it can surely be adapted in numbers for any territory. Make a minimum of ten new contacts over the telephone each day. You don't try to sell over the phone. You simply gather information and make appointments to those who care to here about our products. You don't count your follow-up calls or callbacks on regular customers. You only count the new contacts, which you make. You see, you want more fresh exposure, or freshly-baited hooks.

Next, you average ten, or whatever number fits your requirements, personal calls--that's face-to-face--to interview, if you will and have an opportunity to present your problem-solving products to a new decision-maker. Sometimes you can work in forty calls, sometimes you only get three more substantiative personal call in. It should average your benchmark number over a week or month or quarter.

Then you want to use the US Post Office to provide more baited hooks by placing a compelling number of proven direct mail pieces in front of, you got it, new prospective buyers. Now let me say at this point that you can use wisdom in the placement of your bait. for example, if you are selling copiers, you can call on every Gas Service Station in your territory without many bites. but if, instead, you call on attorneys, or your previously identified list of largest businesses in your territory, you will get a lot more bites, which properly played, will net tangible sales and money in the bank.

Many sales managers focus their teams on dollars sole. This creates a quandary. The sales force individually cannot, at least it so seems to them at first, reasonably predict the future sales they are gong to make. However, they cam, and must predict the number of calls they can make. If they don't meet these minimum requirements, I recommend a zero-tolerance policy for those who consistently can't seem to do these very doable benchmark activities. I believe they should be fired in the most expedient fashion possible. You are doing these non-producers no favors when they don't, having been told of your minimum requirements, meet the minimum benchmark expectations. they belong in another industry. Not sales.

With copiers, I determined an even more powerful, doable, benchmark activity. Equipment Demonstrations. Now while this benchmark has something to do with the nature of the marketing bell-curve regarding the life-cycle of your product, it is more or less applicable in every case. by this, I mean that if you have a relatively new product, which has not yet reached a flat, replacement-only market, product demonstrations provide the salesman opportunities to show their prospects something new. New solutions, by the creative use of your effectively rehearsed product demonstrations and presentations. This makes for more exciting sales in some cases. However this is not to say that a flat or replacement market is a bad thing--it merely means that your consumers may actually know as much or more about your products than you do. Therefore demonstrations become less important. Still, most buyers want to see, touch, feel what they are getting before they hand over the check.

Therefore, in the case of new technological products such as the never-ending evolution of office-automation products, "the demonstration is a crucial, mind-altering event". It is what turns casual interest into a perception of need or even, and quite acceptably, desire to acquire or want. Read this paragraph again.

If you sell cars, it is the test-drive. If you sell shoes, it is the trying them on, walking around and admiring them in the mirror. If you sell insurance it is the moment that you realize that you are a jerk if you haven't adequately secured your family's future. If you sell industrial chemicals, it is seeing and understanding that the bathroom cleanser not only kills dangerous bacteria and smells good, but it also contains enzymes that break down the uric acid contained in little boy's pee that gets splattered all around, thereby neutralizing the odor. How would you have ever known such things unless this very informed and useful salesperson not only tells you, but shows you the product in use and provides convincing data as proof that you are not lying.

In any city in the USA, if not the world, an average person can get a job selling copiers. The mark-up of these products and the methods of distribution necessitates moving X numbers of boxes per month. This leads to an important truth. The compensation plans for those people who will follow the above-outline method only, and I have lots more to tell you how to make it easier--the comp plans are not only achievable, they are nearly obscene. I actually recall telling another successful copier salesman  about two years into the business, "This should be illegal. It's too easy. It's almost like stealing." And although it's not really much like stealing, the amount of money that an average Jo can make rivals any professional in any field. And that is not only my experience, but it is my firm belief.

It's late at night. I am tired. this is enough information for you to go make a fortune. But never fear, I will soon, tell you much, much more to help you be a Sales Gladiator. Doug Wright

FormattingFont familyFont size Words: 1358

via www.typepad.com

This is a reblog from a few years ago. It captures inportant principles that are universal toall sales and marketing.

12 simple rules for working with color - PowerPoint - Office.com

By Roger C. Parker

For marketing material, color is arguably one of the most powerful design tools at your disposal. It is extremely noticeable — even when viewed from a distance, a document with color stands out from black-and-white publications. Your publications will come to life with the appropriate application of color, and you can also use color to reinforce your organization's brand and identity. Adding a splash of color can give you a lot of bang for your marketing bucks.

Role of color in marketing

Color plays four major roles in increasing the communicating power of marketing materials for your business.

• Provides differentiation and recognition     Color helps your targeted audience recognize your marketing materials and also distinguishes your materials from your competitors' collateral. Color can also help you brand your marketing materials — by providing a signature look or style that is uniquely your own.

via office.microsoft.com

I see a lot of improper use of color in an off of the web. It is not hard to use a few basic principles to make your documents look better.

The Customer is NOT Always Right!

Yeah, yeah, that's what they say. The customer is always right. I've said it before. And it's a good rule. Most of the time. Almost all of the time. But there are exceptions. You will know when they are. It will be those times when you will feel like scum of the earth and will not be able to respect yourself, ever, if you roll over and take too much abuse from a customer. Even then, you are not excused to punch their lights out. Not even tell them where to stick it. You will just bite your tounge and politely, or at least evenly disengage yourself from the situation. If the customer isalready emotional, as he most likely is if he's being abusive enough to warrant extreme measures, your further failure to put up with him/her is probably going to escalate her/his abuse. Still you disengage. You try not to make things worse. But you also are not required to stand for being abused. However . . . .

It would be better to take the abuse rather than create a scene, escalate a dangerous situation, or get killed. I'm serious. There may be times when people get crazy on you. If you can deal with it and disengage easily, then do so. Times are tough. LIFE is tough. Emotions are fragile, alchohol and drugs are rampant. Anger is the worst drug of all. You do not want to become the recipient of a drugged-up crazo's unleashed anger just to sooth your ego. So, what am I saying? Do you or don't you? What?

The point is that it is a very tough call. You will know when the line has been crossed. But only after you have considered that you may lose a sale. Or lose money. Or lose your job over your behavior. Or even lose your LIFE. Really. Here's how it is.

I also write a self-defense blog. I teach self defense. I teach knife-lore. I teach remedial shooting for problem shooters who have bad shooting habits or unique eye-coordination. I teach my state's requisite course for applying for a handgun carry permit. I do my best to teach teach how to stay alive and unhurt. The most important rule regarding self-defense is to be nice. Be considerate. Do not antagonize. No mater how bad you think you are. Do unto other as you'd have them do unto you. The insolent young man you dis this morning may execute your tonight. Really! It happens.

So, the rule is, there is no hard and fast rule. But after you have considered all the options and all the possible consequenses, at the end of the day, only you will know what to do. Schooled intuition is worth a lot. A knee-jerk reaction is mindless.

In my entire career, having dealt with thousands of transactions of all kinds with all kinds of people--not a small number that were with what I call horse-traders of every disposition and variety--I have felt that the line was crossed, maybe five times. I still feel that my judgement was correct in every case. However, I will also tell you that I nearly lost my life in one of those cases. Be your own judge. Just remember someone else may choose to be your judge, jury, and executioner.

The customer is not always right. but not very often.