People are not buying a drill when they shop at their local hardware store; Instead they’re buying the benefits of that drill – a hole. When I purchase a new laptop with a bigger processor, I’m buying the benefits of increased productivity. I don’t give a rip how many gazigahertz (my term)  it has.

The bottom line is that people purchase the benefits of what your product or service can do for them. Sadly, the techies writing the web pages and packaging for software these days still don’t get this revelation.

This is an ad for Sound Forge 9 by Sony:

“The Sound Forge 9 professional digital audio production suite includes everything you need to quickly get from raw audio to finished master. Use this suite to create and edit stereo and multichannel audio files with speed and precision. Efficiently analyze, record and edit audio, digitize and restore old recordings, model acoustic environments, design sound for multimedia, and master replication-ready CDs.”

This is horrible sales copy. Don’t sell me on Features. Tell me how this audio editing program is going to help me meet my production goals.

Sales managers are under quite a bit of pressure these days. “We’ve got to cut expenses!” is the natural reaction in times like this. Lean is good, but you’ve got to be careful that you’re not cutting out necessary expenses like sales training. During tough economic times, training is vital.

Your sales people still need to grow. They need to learn new strategies surviving in a recession. Training doesn’t need to cost fortune either. You can assign a book a month for your sales people to go through, and discuss it through a weekly teleconferencing. One hour week, and a few good books(you can get them cheap on Amazon) a month is really all it takes.The investment will pay back dividends while your competition is busy battening down the hatches.

Yesterday I posted that one of the biggest mistakes in any sales presentation was overloading your prospect with too much info. This is one of the most common mistakes when it comes to using powerpoint.

This is by far the funniest video I’ve come across on “what not to do” when it comes to powerpoint presentations:

It’s a natural inclination for any sales professional to present dozens of options. After all, the more options, the more opportunities for a sale right? Back when I sold manufacturing technology, I had a sales manager who encouraged me to present prospects with multiple options for a line of products we offered. His thinking was “Show them all that we have, so they can make an informed decision.”

Sounds good right? But actually the opposite is true. It was a valuable learning experience for me, because I learned that people really don’t want to make any more decisions than they already have to. When consumers are already bamboozled with a variety of choices, they often take the path of least resistance, which is to do absolutely nothing. So stop unloading your catalogues of information on people. Instead, do your homework, find specific solutions to specific problems they face.

Your sales and marketing presentation should avoid giving people to much to think about at one time. The same applies to your website or that powerpoint presentation you’ve loaded with bullets of facts.

What’s the most exciting part about shopping? It’s that feeling of anticipation that’s generated right before every purchase. Fast-forward a couple of days, and the excitement of that purchase tends to wear off. In sales, you will face plenty of buyers remorse if you overinflate and overpromise. The key to limiting buyers remorse is to underpromise and over deliver. Successful selling has more to do with delivering excellent service than convincing your prospect that your service is excellent.

Pres. elect Obama ran an exciting campaign, full of energy, full of anticipation, but he may be faced with some intense buyers remorse given all the lofty promises that he’s made in this campaign. After all, government with all of its bureaucratic inefficiency, almost never delivers anything of quality.

Most of us in sales have done it. In our eager enthusiasm to get the sale, we sometimes let our guard down. You know the situation.

Customer- “So you think this new software system of yours is going to help us save thousands?”

You-  “Absolutely…There is no doubt!”

You- “Your really going to be please with our service!”

You see what I’ve just laid out. In that one moment when you think things are going really well during the presentation, that childish excitement sometimes gets the best of us.Then we just vomit all over our prospects with cheesy sales talk.

Instead, respond to the question in a calm and confident manner- “Based off of all the information you’ve given me, I think we can.”

A friend of mine has a great saying. It goes something like this: “People love to root for underdogs, but they do business with experts.

I don’t know if he coined that one himself, but it’s such a true statement in the world of selling. It’s even more true in this day and age when most businesses are counting their pennies. Old sales tricks don’t work. You have to be studied in your field. And even then, you have to communicate that expertise to your propsects. If you sell business to business, I recommend a simple 5 step formula for positioning yourself as a bonifide expert within your industry:

1. Write for trade journals that your prospects read. The editors of these publications are always looking for content.
2. Write problem solving reports or “white papers” for your prospects. Give these out for free. Make sure your contact information is contained within the reports.
3. Start a blog that is focused on the industry your are selling to. It can contain the latest industry news as well as problem solving tips.
4. Write a book! Nothing says “expert” like being a published author. Here’s a secret. It’s pretty easy these days to get a book self-published and printed. You don’t have to go through a publisher anymore.
5. Get your own business cards printed up (Why? Because your company’s business cards stink!) that say something like “For a free report on the 7 ways to cut manufacturing costs, visit my web site at www……..”

Now, I realize your thinking “I’m not a writer!” Well let me give you a quick secret.

I use Need-An-Article.com.

They have professionl writers that will write a 550 word article for just $5.52!!!  I give them the topic, how I want it laid out and they do the work.

There is a monthy membership fee of $9.95 per month, but it’s completely worth it. I’ve been using the site for 2 months now, and have been really impressed with the article quality.

All this said, I still do alot of my own articles, and blogs, but if you’re looking at getting alot of content out in a short time, Need-an-article.com is an incredible time saver!

With gas prices soaring through the roof, most small businesses are faced with the dilemma of having to raise their prices. I’ve talked with business owners who just haven’t faced up to this reality yet. They’re afraid that they’ll lose business to their competitors.

My answer to this is simple. First, if you offer exceptional service then you really have nothing to worry about. Most customers will stick with you even if your prices are a little more than the guy down the street. With that said however, let me offer some advice that will help to offset the price dilemma.

The first rule is that most people do not buy on price. They may talk about price but what they really mean is that you haven’t offered enough value to justify paying the price you’re asking. I challenge anyone who disagrees with this statement to read the book How to Sell at Margins Higher than Your Competitors, by Lawrence L. Steinmetz. In it, Steinmetz says that most sales people think their price is already too high, without the customer or prospect even saying the first word. Let me repeat that- most people selling products and services believe deep down that they’re charging too much.

If you think about it, you can see just how true that statement is. Why is it that when confronted about price of their service, business owners start to justify it with all kinds of bemoaning reasons? Instead of telling them it’s all because of OPEC, start letting your customer know about the value they’ve received. I have a friend in the home remodeling business who is terrified that if he raises his prices by $10, he’ll lose repeat business. I’ve told him that in essence, he’s telling his customers that his service is not worth an extra $10.

The key is adding value. If you don’t offer exceptional value, then your product or service becomes just another commodity. People always buy commodities on price. If you’re just another remodeler, or just another car detailing service, you’re in trouble. Value means offering more for a higher price.

It may mean that you have a “Money Back Guarantee” if they’re not completely satisfied. It means that you use only the finest materials or the most environmentally sound products in your work.

Selling on value reminds me of a cartoon illustration that caught my eye in Steinmetz’s book. It’s a picture of a brother and sister each with their own lemonade stand side by side.

The brother’s lemonade stand reads “Lemonade 25 cents”.

The sister’s lemonade stand reads “Lemonade 50 cents (clean water)”.

The best salespeople know that most people buy from out of emotion, not logic. If everyone bought using logic, there would be no reason for manufacturing sports cars, yachts, and million dollar homes. Human Beings are emotional creatures and therefore make decisions based out of emotion. Your sales and marketing should appeal to people’s emotional side (not in a manipulative way I might add).

Lawyers are the best at this. They present stories. Not just facts. I’ve been reading some in How to Argue and Win Every Time by Gerry Spence.

In it he says,

“Telling stories and listening to stories are the activities that most distinguish our species. The stories of our childhood childhood remain with us as primary experiences against which we judge and decide issues as adults. They are forever implanted in both our conscious and unconscious. We are entertained by the drama of movies, television and theatre- highly developed forms of storytelling. The most effective advertisements on television are always mini-stories that take little more than half a minute. The great teachers of the world taught with stories. Christ’s parable are stories.”

What is the natural reaction for sales professionals in slow economic times? Get out and prospect even harder right? Finding new clients seems to make sense, but in reality it’s much more productive to mine your own customer base. “But they’ve already been purchasing from me.” you say. “Why would I spend time going back to someone who’s already a customer?” you say.

But I say “that’s precisely the point!” They already buy from you. They trust you much more than new prospects do. You have other products, right? What else do your current clients need. Could they use additional service plans, accessories, warranties. These may big as the actual product but these accessory products add up. What do so many cashiers ask you for while you’re paying at the checkout? Your email address to put you on a list. They realize that if you purchased once, your likely to do it again.

They’d rather spend they’re sales and marketing time with they’re current customer base. You should do likewise.

I spend less than 20% of my time trying to develop new customers. Instead I continue to present new products that my current customers might need.

One of my favorite stories is Acres of Diamonds, told by the founder of Temple University, Russel Conwell. In it a farmer sells his property to go out in search of diamonds. He searches endlessly, but never finds his treasure. Meanwhile, the person who bought his farm ends up discovering a one of the largest diamond mines right on his property.

Obviously the lesson is simple, look for diamonds where you are. Spend most of your time mining your existing customers.