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Why we got a bad grade in school. Why someone else got picked over us for the team. Why we haven’t gotten a promotion yet. Why we’re getting fired (or shouldn’t be). Why January’s not even over and we’ve already botched our New Year’s Resolution.
And…
Why I have to say “no” to the salesperson (who’s really pretty nice)… Or ignore the ad (which is really pretty compelling).
In fact, we have a whole arsenal of excuses at our disposal for every little situation in life.
We know just what to say to justify poor performance. We know what to tell others (and ourselves) to skirt our indiscretions.
We’re like Houdini with our ability to get out of taking responsibility for things in our life.
And one of the things we’re particularly good at is getting rid of a sales person or sales message (of course if we weren’t good at saying “no” we’d be dead broke and have warehouses full of junk we’ll never use).
The list of excuses given to a salesperson is endless. However, there are six common objections that come back over and over again — that must be addressed for any sale to take place:
Not enough time. I don’t have enough time to deal with this right now. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to even think about making a buying decision. Even if I had your product I wouldn’t have the time to use it.
Not interested. Well, I really don’t see how this is for me. I mean, it’s not really what I was looking for. I don’t think it’ll meet my needs.
Not a unique solution. Oh, this is just like what Fred’s selling down the street. I know I can get this somewhere else, so I don’t need to buy right now.
Don’t believe you. Those are some pretty big claims you’re making and I just don’t see how they could be true. Sure, you can promise the moon, but I need evidence… I need proof you’re going to be able to give me what you say.
Not enough money. Oh, I can’t afford to put money towards this right now. That’s too expensive (for the benefits I expect to get from it). Is this really going to be worth it? How am I going to justify spending this money to (spouse, friend, relative, etc.)?
Don’t need to decide today. I don’t have to decide today. I can always buy that later. If I don’t buy today it’s not a big deal, I can always get it later.
Sit down with your product, your advertisement, your sales script and seriously think about how to answer each of these objections.
Build the answers into your sales message. So even as the objection comes to your prospect’s mind it’s already been answered.
This greases the skids to the sale and will turn many wavering prospects into happy customers.
Put your freakin’ nose to the grindstone and do more sales calls, more marketing, and more going out and taking what you want instead of just taking what the economy gives you.
Some people don’t want to play baseball when it rains. If an average player just shows up to play on a rainy day, they may become the playmaker — the MVP — because the highly-touted prima donna didn’t want to get wet.
So if you have the guts to play in the rain — to step up to the plate and take the big swing — it could change everything.
Big business holds off spending on marketing and sales when the economy slows… And the clutter of sales and marketing messages subsides (slightly)…
Smart entrepreneurs see this as an opportunity to step up to the plate and take a swing.
… And you won’t hit if you don’t get a chance to swing…
… You won’t be the MVP if you don’t play in the rain…
… You’re not going to survive… much less thrive… in the recession unless you get off your duff and do more sales calls, more marketing, more proactive solicitation of business.
Go out and take what you want — not what the economy gives you.
I got an email from Perry Marhsall this weekend that laid out the 6 essentials of a profitable internet business.
I’ve known these things for just about as long as I’ve been doing marketing (and implemented them many times over). But never have they been laid out as clearly.
If you’ll do these — and do them right — you’re almost guaranteed to profit.
Miss a step or two along the way and it’ll quickly chip away at your profits — and even pull the foundation out from under your entire business.
Here, for your benefit, are Perry’s 6 essentials of a profitable internet business, with explanation:
In my experience, the foundation of a stable and profitable
Internet business is having six systems in place. Just six:
1. Market Research
2. Properly built Pay Per Click campaign
3. Conversion Tracking
4. Split testing of key sales elements
5. Seductive copy
6. Automated Email follow-up
That’s it. Just six. You can build a $1 million business, or
in some markets, a $10 million business, with just those
six things.
It’s Edgar Allen Poe’s 200th birthday, and instead of going with the typical references to “The Raven” or one of his more-known works, here’s something to tickle your funny bone…
Epigram For Wall Street
I’ll tell you a plan for gaining wealth,
Better than banking, trade or leases —
Take a bank note and fold it up,
And then you will find your money in creases!
This wonderful plan, without danger or loss,
Keeps your cash in your hands, where nothing can trouble it;
And every time that you fold it across,
‘Tis as plain as the light of the day that you double it!
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard “I can’t” or one of its many variations.
“I can’t … because …”
“We can’t … because …”
Or even…
“That’s impossible.”
Well, that’s a lame way of thinking. Thinking like this adds up to you accomplishing nothing in life.
Instead start thinking in terms of…
“I think I can.”
“Let’s try it and see how it works.”
“I don’t know how to do that yet, but I bet I can find someone to help.”
“Wow, sounds tough. But I bet with some thought and some trial and error I could figure out how to do it.”
That little mental switch is the difference between the rat race and complete and udder spiritual, mental, and financial freedom.
Make the switch and you’re empowered to accomplish anything.
Sure, you may have limitations to prevent you from doing it the way you want to do it. Or the way others have done it before. But that doesn’t mean you can’t do it at all. You just have to find a new way that’s unique to you to accomplish your goals.
And if you don’t think you can do something, try running through these questions:
“If I can’t do it right now, what are some of the unique qualities or abilities of someone who can?”
“Which of those qualities and abilities do I currently have?”
“Which ones can I gain?”
“Which are unrealistic for me to gain in a reasonable period of time?”
“Are there any qualities or abilities I have that can substitute for the ones it would be unreasonable to expect myself to gain?”
“What about unique ways to get around the needed qualities and abilities?”
“Are there qualities and abilities I have, that aren’t shared by the person who already can do what I want to do?”
“How can I leverage my unique qualities and abilities to be able to start doing what I want to do?”
“What are the first steps I need to take to do that?”
“When do we get started?”
Some people may call it creative. Some may call it thinking outside the box.
To me it’s just a simple set of questions that will take you from where you are now to where you want to go. And it doesn’t require you to follow the trail someone else carved out for the so-called best way to get where you want to go.
No, you get to blaze your own trail.
And then you can accomplish whatever you want.
P.S. — Failure is your friend. Here’s a quote from Gary Halbert I have written on a 3×5 card next to my desk. “There’s only X number of mistakes between where you are and where you want to be… so start making them!” Enough said.
The other day I was battling with writing an email sales letter. I’d spent a couple hours working on it with not much to show.
Until I remembered this simple template I’d learned from John Carlton.
I stuck the pieces in a new text document and went from there. In the next 30 minutes (probably less) I poured out the entire sales letter… start to finish.
Some brief editing and the sales letter is in the mail, doing it’s work. Responses are rolling in.
And the best part is how incredibly simple this is.
If you’re looking for a sales letter template that can get you out of a jam, or just one you can use day-to-day as the perfect foundation for effective sales copy, this is it.
Here’s your sales letter template:
Hi,
(Compelling, urgent, unique, ultra-specific, and useful hook that explains why the reader should drop everything and read your message right now.)
Here’s what I got:
(Explain the fundamentals of your offer.)
Here’s what it’ll do for you:
(Extrapolate direct benefits and deeper benefits from the features of your product, and lay them out for your prospect. Provide proof that your prospect will experience those benefits.)
Here’s what I want you to do next:
(Make it incredibly clear how easy it is to respond, and encourage your prospect to do so right away. Provide some scarcity or incentive to get the prospect to get off their duff and call/email/come in.)
(Signature)
P.S. – (Re-state the fundamental offer and urgency, sweeten the deal if necessary.)
The words don’t have to be exact. In fact, you should memorize this and every time it comes out it’ll be customized to the message you need to write.
However, if you’ll just follow this simple template you’ll recognize soon how easy it makes to write sales letters… And then how powerful it really is when you start getting response.
Want a simple way to be successful in business, sales, and marketing (negotiation, too)?
It all boils down to this:
“Find out what customers want, and give it to them.”
Simple enough idea, but how do you do it?
How about setting up an AdWords campaign to drive customers to a survey where you ask them what they want?
Then developing a product based on the results of that survey?
Then using the same AdWords campaign to drive traffic to the product page for this new product?
Then you can even test other related traffic sources to see if they’ll be profitable too.
Sure, there are more details to this. But it’s a simple and reliable way to break into a new market or to follow a new off-shoot of your current market.
Another option is to ask a subsection of your customer list to take a similar survey.
All you have to do to find out what people want is to ask. Then you can find a way to give them exactly what they’re looking for (and having trouble finding elsewhere). They’ll reward you handsomely for your efforts.
And the best part — once you have an effective system for doing this, you drive your chances of failure to almost nil.
Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were good as well.
I took the last couple weeks off… Spent time with family, relaxed a lot, and enjoyed a break.
It was wonderful.
And…
Now I’m struggling a little bit to get back in the swing of things.
One of the most effective productivity strategies is to set aside your work time (for me, writing time) and do that every day at the same time. Set a goal for how much you’ll write, sure. But make sure at a bare minimum that you sit down and do the writing.
That was something I did not do over vacation.
So the neurotransmitters I use for writing are a little un-exercised. (Along with much of the rest of my body!)
I think it’ll take a little time to get back in the swing of things.
And that’s okay too.
I come back with a new sense of calm, a new sense of purpose — which I only have because I took a break.
I have a lot planned for 2009 already.
Not much of it involves taking on new clients (hint: if you’re interested in hiring me at ANY time in 2009, speak now or forever hold your peace). Much of it involves keeping up with current clients, helping out a few friends on special projects, and most importantly taking my personal publishing business for a few new rides.
But one thing you can be sure I’ll still do is use this blog as a sounding board for new and innovative ideas in results-accountable advertising, marketing and salesmanship. This blog will continue to be a resource for ideas big and small that will help you earn more money from every advertising venture.
And if you’re in publishing (or use publishing as part of a multi-step sales process) the benefit will be two-fold — most of the ideas you find on this blog come from (and have been proven many times over within) the publishing industry. The fundamentals of sales, marketing and advertising are universal — and then when you slather on a healthy portion of industry-specific knowledge on top of the fundamentals you become a behemoth, practically unstoppable.
I’ll continue working at it, learning from successes and failures, and sharing insights along the way. So stay tuned. 2009 is going to be my best year ever. How about you?
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