S&MM SoundOff

Blog and Win Winners!

Congrats to this week's winners:

Training Day: Paul

Daily Perk: Carolyn and Airsoft Guns (2 winners because of unclaimed prize last week)

SoundOff: Enrique

 

The contest continues! Look on Monday for next week's book choices.

The 5% Rule

THE NATURAL TENDENCY for many people, when pitching a product or service, is to tell prospects almost everything they know about their offering. Maybe the hope is that if they throw enough stuff out there, something will stick. And it's really easy to do, because you can just keep adding slides or paragraphs, or continue talking. Besides, if prospects don't hear everything about the product, they might not think it’s good enough and they’ll choose something else.
        The reality, however, is that people on the receiving end are rarely so enraptured with the product. They may have a need, so they'll hang in there while the feature dump goes on (and on) (and on).
        But, at best, they may only remember 20% of what was said. And if they pass on what they recall to their boss or other decision maker, that person may only get 5% of the original pitch. Meanwhile, that 5% could have very little resemblance to the original dump of information. Result: a watered-down (or wasted?) opportunity.

So what should you do?

If only 5% of your message will filter through your prospect’s company after you're gone, make sure that 5% — your core message — is so crisp, concise, and compelling that it will be easy for your prospect to not only remember your message, but to pass it along pretty much as you gave it. In fact, if your message really hits home, your prospect is likely to amplify your message and make a stronger case on your behalf.
        Give them a clear view of how they can benefit from your offering and include only those items that are necessary at that moment to help explain the value you provide. Be ruthless in stripping out details. Either delete them entirely or put them at the end of your presentation, ready to show if and when required. That way, you won’t bury your prospects with information unless they specifically ask for it.

Keep your message short and compelling, and you'll stand a better chance of success.

[You can find more on this and related subjects at The YouBlog — practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.]

Low Pricing Can Kill Your Business!

By Steven M. Stroum

It was one of those days you don’t ever forget.  Like JFK’s assassination, the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, and O.J.’s acquittal. I remember exactly where I was the day I lost a sale because my fee was too low!

It was Feb. 12, 1990, which happened to be my Dad’s birthday. I was at Corning Medical in Medfield, Mass., meeting with three people in their international marketing department. They were all "leaning in" as I showed them samples of my work publicizing products in Western Europe and were asking relevant questions about our approach and the specific services we provide.  Clearly interested and impressed, they then asked, "How much does this cost?" This, of course, was the ideal scenario: the quality of our work persuaded them to ask me for the sale. I didn’t have to ask them.

When I told them my fee, they were silenced. My answer turned the tide. Because of their experience with international marketing, they couldn't believe I could achieve the results I showed them for my very reasonable fee. Frankly, I didn't fully realize it at the ti me, but the issue became my credibility: they couldn’t imagine how I could achieve results for them for the fee quoted, regardless of the evidence presented. They were suspicious of my Porsche performance at Ford prices!

Experiential Incentives: Are They Right for You?

By Enrique Burgos

A new type of rewards for incentive and relationship marketing plans is invading Europe--all kinds of rewards related to personal or group experiences are increasing day by day.

In the incentive scheme, 80 percent of rewards (merchandise) are the same from one program to another. You can see some differences depending on the target and creativity of the agency. From the beginning of the 21st century, the usage of gift cards/certificates as a reward has increased to 50 percent of usage (besides merchandise) in dealer incentives.

From the classic incentive travel reward, customers now demand unique experiences, from the most expensive--participating in Formula 1 racing day, getting flying lessons and having a personal shopper day--to cheaper ones like spa sessions, golf lessons and--one of my favorites—wine experiences.

Recently this new category of rewards, experiences, has been fully developed. This new kind of leisure reward links the company emotionally with the customer. You can reach every company wish, including creating loyal customers, through these unforgettable experiences.

The main difference between merchandise rewards and experience ones is the risk factor of the experiences. You must be sure about your provider to accomplish a totally safe and expected experience. No surprises.

I really find this kind of incentives irresistable because you make the customer feel special. This is the objective of incentives--reward someone for their work, sales, capacity and prescription in terms of creating an inclination in his behaviour. And you can be sure that introducing these marketing experiences will help you to achieve this.

Competing in a Consolidating Market

As a consultant in the dental industry, I am frequently faced with the challenge of helping small to mid-sized companies compete against increasingly larger competitors. In the dental market, consolidation has taken place not only on the manufacturing side but on the distribution side as well. As a result, small to mid-sized dental product manufacturers are finding themselves in an increasingly tough position.

On the manufacturing side, consolidation has created larger, more diversified, competitors. A noteworthy example of this is Danaher Corporation, a name known to virtually no one in the dental market as recently as five years ago. Danaher swooped into the market, systematically picking off the number one or two brand in key product categories, and is now a formidable force in the dental industry.

On the distribution side, ongoing acquisition of small dealers and regional dealer networks has increased the control the two large national distributors have in the marketplace. In addition, these distributors have begun to forge strong, sometimes exclusive, relationships with key manufacturers.

What this means for the smaller manufacturer is that their competitors often have a broader product offering and stronger dealer support as well as deeper pockets. This Davy and Goliath scenario is certainly not unique to the dental industry.

There are a variety of ways in which small companies can deal with increasing consolidation. These include taking advantage of their ability to respond more quickly, maximizing goodwill and customer loyalty, providing value added, utilizing “guerilla” marketing tactics and cost effective communication vehicles, and even positioning their company to maximize acquisition value. In upcoming posts I will offer some ideas and examples for how companies can compete in a consolidating market.

Blog and Win

Congrats to this week's winners:

Training Day: George

Daily Perk: Ronald

SoundOff: Ron

The contest continues! This week we're featuring the same books as last week. Remember, you can comment on ANY post in the blog to be entered. Good luck!

How Do You Get More Interaction During a Presentation?

An often-recurring question: How do you get more value from meetings? I'm not talking about the weekly sales meeting where a handful of salespeople report their figures and go through the targets ahead. I'm talking about meetings in the form of seminars, conferences and congresses.

One way to increase value and to ensure that attendees take something home is to engage the attendees.
Many have probably heard the quote from Chinese philosopher Confucius: "Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I will learn." Now that we know we must involve the audience, the next question is "How?" Most of those who have heard the quote have probably delivered a presentation on a podium, and asked for questions afterward, just to see a roomful of mostly blank faces.

Breaking Out of the Box

   
REALLY EFFECTIVE MARKETING makes a connection. You can't force it, you can only set things in motion. Then it's up to the whims of your audience to either buy in or turn away. If you do things "like we've always done them", you’re probably going to get the same old results. If you do things the way everyone else does them, you’ll probably get incremental gains at best. I suppose you could spend a lot of money to determine whether blue ink or green ink is more effective at getting people to open your mailer (or read on in your web site), but, come on, that’s merely about squeezing out results, not creating inspired, passionate buyers.
        So I’d like to offer you an alternative, as expressed in the web site for a new book by Miranda July. She could have put together a typical author’s site, with a bio and a picture and testimonials and an excerpt from her book. And that might have sparked interested in some people, but it would have been too easy to dismiss, as well.
        INSTEAD, she took a path that yanks you along on a very entertaining ride, and gives you a much better sense of her writing — no, her vision — than anything she might have put on a standard web site. It’s a tour-de-force, using nothing more than a dry-erase marker and a few kitchen appliances.
        So click on this link (if you didn’t click the one above already) and then ask yourself: “How am I involving my audience?” If you don’t have a good, clear idea — or if it’s something someone else might do — then you’re limiting your results.

[Many thanks to Frank Roche and his excellent KnowHR blog for highlighting Miranda’s site (and for enabling me to, ah, sample the graphic above...). Frank’s insights go far beyond the world of HR, so check him out when you have a moment.]

[You can find more on this and related subjects at The YouBlog — practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications.]

Rapport Means the Customer Likes You. Trust Means She’ll Buy from You.

You're sitting in your office and one of your sales people returns from an appointment with Ms. Big at XYZ corporation. You know this sales person has been working hard to get the appointment. So, you ask him, "How did it go?" He enthusiastically tells you it was great. The rapport between Ms. Big and himself flowed like a river and he anticipates the first sale within a couple weeks.

The weeks turn into a month, then three months. Still no order. What happened? Your sales person has just learned that rapport only means that Ms. Big likes him. It doesn’t mean that she is going to buy. To get the sale requires more than rapport; it requires trust.

Does this mean that you need trust for every sale. No. Small, insignificant sales (insignificant to the buyer) happen every day. Buying chewing gum doesn’t require that you have a deep level of trust for the store cashier. However, when you make a significant purchase (significant to you), trust has to be there.

Another situation that only requires rapport is when you’re the only available supplier for a specific product or service a buyer must have. You can persuade someone into making a low- or no-trust purchase. However, if you’re interested in building a career as a sales professional you’ll need more than persuasion. If you want to develop enthusiastic customers, repeat business and profitable relationships, you must earn trust.

That’s not to say rapport isn’t important. It is. In fact, it’s a component of trust and to get to trust, you need to understand rapport.

Firing on All Circuits?

While "cost cutting" is a term anyone in sales, marketing or management hears—and dreads—every day, I really have to commend Circuit City. They saw a problem—dropping sales figures—and did something about it.

They laid off 3,400 hourly workers, who, according to Circuit City, make too much money. Instead, they’ll be hiring entry-level employees who will work for $8 instead of $10 or $11.

You really have to applaud this sort of mindset. Your average company might have looked at the CEO’s salary, for example. In this case, Chief Executive Officer Philip Schoonover received $8.52 million in fiscal 2006, according to Bloomberg, including a salary of $975,000. Some short-sighted companies might have seen this as a quick fix to fiscal woes. But not Circuit City.

Some woefully inadequate companies might have looked at dreary numbers and had visions of conducting sales training to fix those pesky quarterly figures. But not Circuit City.

Other corporate jungle prey would have seen this as an opportunity to try a different marketing campaign, examine its customer service practices or its pricing strategies. But not Circuit City.

But those same companies won’t have the exciting challenge that Circuit City has now: an inexperienced staff, abysmal morale and word-of-mouth that will make previous sales losses look minor.

So, who’s laughing now? Not Circuit City.