Scott Hallman » business tips

How to Dramatically Increase Sales with the Power of Persistence

Scott Hallman — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:22:45 +0000

We all have heard that in order to effectively sell in today’s intensely over competitive world, you (and your sales reps) must be persistent.

The sad reality is very few businesses I have worked with (out of thousands) do this very well. Yet statistics show that the majority of sales happen after the 7th contact.

A real-world illustration from a vet turned salesman to build a $40M company

A client of mine, Joe Jurgielewicz and Sons, is the 2nd largest provider of ducks for food services in America (www.tastyduck.com). Dr. Joe Jurgielewicz is a veterinarian that started with nothing in upstate Pennsylvania. He built his business the old fashion way, through personal selling and personal persistence. And even today, as the CEO, he still hits the road, checks on customers, builds lifetime relationships and yes, refuses to lose a sale.

This incredible company is an illustration of the Ultimate Customer Service (they lose less than 1% of their customers a year in a fiercely competitive market that has historically used “price” as the buying criteria).

The Story of Persistence

As an example of persistence, Dr. Joe, as his clients call him, had decided to aggressively pursue the hospitality market with a focus on larger volume sales restaurant operations.

After over 20 attempts, via pop in visits, emails and calls, Dr. Joe finally got the opportunity to make a proposal to provide his high quality ducks to this major prospective client. He was told that he had the business but no order came. So he contacted the company (again this required multiple attempts) to finally learn that a competitor had under bid him by 10%.

This prospect’s chefs had indicated “quality” was the primary buying criteria but the management quickly bit on price and Joe Jurgielewicz and Sons were told they lost the bid.

Okay, so 99.9% of entrepreneurs and their sales reps would have called it a done deal. But not Dr. Joe.

He persisted several times to try to contact the chefs that were so impressed with the quality, taste and texture of Joe Jurgielewicz and Sons ducks. But no response.

So Dr. Joe went to their hotel restaurant location, bought duck off their menu, took it into the parking lot and did a taste test vs his duck (now that’s a tailgate party).

As he is doing the taste test ,the two chefs, dressed in their white chef uniforms, pulled up in the parking lot!

Dr. Joe met them in the lobby and invited them out to his truck for their own taste test…is that great or what.

They immediately agreed that his duck was vastly superior and to switch their business to Joe Jurgielewicz and Sons!

Marketing is a powerful thing, but there is no replacement for good old fashion face to face selling, coupled with the Power of Persistence.

If you are a member of the www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com you have free full access to the complete workshop on The Power of Persistence, part of the Sequential Marketing Series. In addition, you will find over 40 real world business growth training sessions on Marketing-Sales-Management-Profits and more.

To access the Power of Persistence, simply go to http://www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com/members/150.cfm

Downsell for Profits

Scott Hallman — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:32:36 +0000

How To Instantly Increase Your Sales Conversion Rate and Add $25,000-100,000+ To Your Profits by Changing One Tiny (no cost) Step in Your Sales Process What is “Downselling”? Many of you now utilize the point of purchase maximization technique of upselling (and I trust optimizing the results with what I shared with you in a past Tuesday Profit Tip). To make sure we are on the same page, upselling involved offering an additional item to the primary purchase to increase the overall price of the transaction. In contrast, downselling is where you offer an alternative to the primary purchase to decrease the overall transaction price. Why would you ever do that? Well we teach several applications of this strategy but for this brief tip I am going to focus on the application of “Increasing Sales Conversion”. If you are losing out on potential clients because they cannot afford (or chose not to) your product or service, even though they want what you provide, downselling provides a simple way to “give them what they want” and convert them into profits instantly. This strategy applies to most businesses and can be profound for many. When I taught Chet Holmes this concept, he said it was one of the most impactful things he ever implemented in his company. Essentially, downselling is where you offer the prospect a lower cost alternative. This may be a smaller quantity package or a lower quality item, or even a first time buyer “special purchase” opportunity. The goal is to win the customer so you gain the opportunity to do business with them in the future as well. Downselling Leverages What You Already Provide Downselling can be amazingly simple if you simply utilize the exact products and services you already offer to create the lower priced item. If you are a health club and trying to sell a prospect on a Gold Membership that includes a one year membership, an obvious downsell is a 90 day “trial” Membership. You win a customer and a chance to convert them to a regular member. Taking this a step further, you could have a second downsell to a 30 day membership…and finally to a one week membership.

Real World Example #1* An Instant Increase in Sales Conversion of over 125%

At my company, Business Growth Dynamics, we recently implemented a new downsell program in our coaching division. So we simply created a series of lower cost ways they could benefit from our coaching services and training. Our sales conversion rate increased by 125% in the first month. These are clients that would have never purchased coaching services at our standard one-on-one rates. But, and this is critical, they wanted and needed the service!! Real World Example #2* Marketing Systems Training Company adds $10,000 a month in Profit I recently spoke with the CEO of an international Marketing System Training company that said he heard my interview with my friend Eben Pagan and was intrigued at the concept of upselling… So I gave him some distinctions and helped him immediately create a downsell strategy – two training programs priced below their current lowest priced one. We quickly determined it was at least a $10,000 per month profit stream (based on past lost prospects that would have purchased) … and the CEO said that he expects it to grow to over $50,000 a month in profit! The great thing is that it includes the exact same services that they already provide, just stripped down versions. So it required little effort to put it into practice. Real World Example #3* $96,000 a year in profit while helping people – How cool is that? A healthcare provider immediately added $2,000 a week to their profits when they learned the detailed implementation systems we teach in our 30 minute “Downsell Workshop”. The strategy is totally proprietary so I am not allowed to reveal the details, except to say that there are 200 patients a year getting the help they need due to this creative downsell solution. And 50% of those that were offered the lower priced alternative are accepting the offer. Profit Action Steps Ok, let’s get you ringing the cash register. Select any product or service you offer and create a simple downsell that you can offer to prospects that do not purchase your standard product or service. Remember, it can be a lower quantity, quality, include fewer bells and whistles or even be a one time deal.

As with every strategy I share with you, Downselling for Profits costs virtually zero to create and test. So go for it and ProfitNOW™.

“Mushrooming” To Maximize Profits

Scott Hallman — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:24:32 +0000

How to “own” more of the business your customers purchase Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Profit Tip where we bring you real-world ways to Build-Grow-Manage-Profit from your business. My goal is that you earn at least $1,000 an hour for every hour you spend learning and applying our profit strategies. When I was taking my technology company public, we purchased a company that was run by two incredible entrepreneurs, Jessie and Rohit. While we were over-focused on getting new clients, they were focused on maximizing the revenue per client – literally “owning” these clients. And the results spoke for themselves. They were by far the most profitable division we had, and this fact caused me to pay close attention. You see, they learned that getting new clients was extremely difficult in the competitive arena of technology. They also learned that they could penetrate deeply and “mushroom” out (expand) into many more opportunities within these same customers, and as they did, they developed stronger relationships, had more opportunities and actually became harder to replace. In their case they used this strategy to dramatically, and I mean dramatically, increase revenue per client. As an example, they landed a large telecommunications client (namely due to confidentiality) with a small $10,000 strategy job. Rather than send in their $90 an hour consultants (as the bid provided for) they staffed it with a $225 an hour stud (at the same price). This brilliant move ensured the client was delighted and it also enabled the stud to “ask around” and identify other projects that were coming up.

Turning $10,000 into $26,000,000 Methodically

The result? The $10,000 job turned into over $1M per month, for 26 months! That is $26,000,000 for a $10,000 job! Mushrooming is all about focusing on meeting more of the needs of your customers. It is about:

Understanding the client’s needs
Understanding how you (and a joint partner if needed) can meet their needs
Building relationships with multiple decision makers
Maintaining “stealth insider info” so you know what they are buying and from whom (and it will be you if you focus on this strategy)

Mushrooming applies to many types of businesses& perhaps all.

If you are a chiropractor it means understanding all their health issues and nutritional issues so you can meet more needs, and understanding their families needs as well
If you are a parts supplier to major corporations it means finding other purchasing agents that are not buying from you – both within that physical division and other divisions/locations
If you are a duck farmer it means getting out and visiting your customers to verify you are the sole supplier… and if not, what you must do to be that
If you are a seasonal specialty item company that sells into large retail chains it means learning what other seasonal items the same buyers that trust you need/sell so you can create it or partner with someone that would die to have those relationships
If you are a carpet cleaning company it means learning about their needs for rug cleaning, repair, furniture cleaning, padding, and perhaps even other household cleaning needs

Mushrooming Protects Your Market and Margins

In Jessie and Rohit’s business, the strong presence in these accounts often meant they had little price pressure. Why? They were trusted, reliable, and fair. So margins were awesome! I used this same “mushrooming” strategy to protect my market share in my national medical record company. What started as a new concept developed by two of us quickly became a field of 1600 competitors, all who looked and sounded the same… sound familiar? So, to protect ourselves, we mushroomed deeper by developing other services our hospital clients needed. This made it more difficult for the competitors to duplicate our offerings and it entrenched us more solidly in the hospitals we were in. We continued this year after year, which I am confident, was a big part of our remarkable 94% client retention rate over 8 years. So “own” your customers and profit like never before. Apply this strategy and ProfitNOW™. To your success, Scott D Hallman PS If you are already a Small Business Growth Club member or are interested in accessing the step by step process for fully implementing strategy going directly to http://www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com/public/352.cfm.

Is Your Compelling Offer Actually Alienating Your Prospects?

Scott Hallman — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:10:52 +0000

When the government was offering its highly touted “cash for clunkers program,” I heard a commercial on the radio for an auto dealership that really brought home a major problem I see small business owners making every day. The car dealer was berating the governments program… saying that by the time the majority of people got qualified and completed the mountain of paperwork needed to complete the transaction, the money allocated for the program would be gone. The dealer then went on to proclaim that any customer buying from them didn’t need to worry about this situation at their dealership. Instead, they would instantly discount all of their new cars by the same amount the government was offering, so come on in and buy from us today… no hassle, no problems, simple and easy. Yeah right… if ONLY! Is there anyone remotely alive today that actually believes this garbage? Now granted, this dealer isn’t lying… they will indeed give you the same amount the government is promising… but the way they do it is to discount the car that amount from the “sticker price,” which we all know is already over-inflated by close to that exact same amount they’re offering. Unfortunately, most people show up expecting this wonderful discount and then realize they are more or less being exposed to a “bait and switch” routine. Ahhh, the auto industry. Is it any wonder why most people would rather go to the dentist for a root canal than visit a dealer showroom? Are You Making This Same Mistake? My point is this. Are you doing something similar in your business… perhaps without even realizing it? Do you promise your customers excellent customer service? Most businesses do, don’t they? And then when you try to call them, you get a nightmare handed to you as you try to navigate through a maze of voicemail messages that never mention the problem you’re calling in with… and never allows you the option of speaking to a live human being. Excellent customer service??? What about your offers? Every business, no matter what you sell, should have at least one compelling offer. So what are many businesses using to entice prospects to “give them a try?” They offer them a 30 day “free trial for $1.” This allows them to capture your credit card number and billing information. Then at the end of the free trial, they will “automatically” provide you with their product or service on a monthly basis, and charge your credit card automatically so there’s “no hassle” for you whatsoever. And of course, you can “cancel” anytime between enrolling and the thirty day trial period. That’s a very compelling offer for someone truly interested and qualified in buying what you sell. Unqualified prospects (those who either don’t really want you sell, or can’t afford what you sell) will never take you up on this type of offer. Even for a buck, they simply won’t take their time knowing they aren’t really interested. Good! That’s what this type of offer is designed to do… “pre-qualify” a serious prospect and eliminate the unqualified ones so they don’t eat up your precious time, energy and effort. So what’s the problem with this type of offer? Nothing, except for one thing. How many of these offers have you personally subscribed to lately? If you have, did you ever try to “cancel” your trial before the thirty days expired? Good luck! Many of these types of offers become your worst nightmare when you try to “opt out” of the service. They either make it next to impossible to locate the proper way to unsubscribe by “hiding” it on a landing page smothered in articles and information (think fine print)… or they require you to complete pages of paperwork before they accept the cancellation. Although these unscrupulous practices are now starting to diminish, the reason for that involves the fact that so many “web shoppers” have had this happen to them, so they no longer subscribe to these types of offers. If you’re using this type of offer for your business, now you know why your “opt in rate” is lower month to month, and will probably continue to decline in the future. Look over your business processes carefully and see if you spot any deficiencies that may be creating a roadblock stopping your customers from buying what you sell… or interacting with your business in an enjoyable way. In today’s economy, it can mean the difference between surviving… and thriving.

Attracting Leads & Clients

Scott Hallman — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 10:22:45 +0000

Should Your Content Aim for Traffic or Conversion

Which type of content attracts reader attention… bringing you more traffic and more eyeballs on the page? Which type of content converts… bringing you more customers and sales? And how do you roll out a strategy that maximizes the twin impact of attraction and conversion? Easy answer… head to your local newsstand. The best attraction and conversion techniques are hidden between the pages of two very different magazines: Cosmopolitan and The New Yorker. Cosmopolitan articles attract Why does a Cosmo-type article attract more attention…

75 Crazy-Hot Moves with Your Man
10 Cheap Fun Date Ideas
Lose 10 Lbs. in 10 Days…eating all you want

We find it impossible to walk past anything that gives us seven, seventeen or seven hundred ways to do or achieve something. We’re greedy, and we’re attracted to articles that feed our lust for excess – even excess information. Most of the articles are just bullet points stacked up against each other that go on forever. Sometimes there’s some meat to the bullet points, but often (especially in Cosmo) it’s just bullet points. This of course gives you the feeling that you’re learning something – and you are – but there’s no depth to the knowledge. Cosmo-type articles are light reading. And we like light reading. Gossip magazines sell like hotcakes for a reason. And just in case you’re thinking attraction is strictly a women’s-interest magazine strategy, you’ll find men’s magazines do it too. Men’s Health and Money always includes light-reading articles on their covers like “How to Get Rock-Hard Abs” and “7 Secrets to a Richer Retirement.” In fact, for years Men’s Health ran essentially the same four covers over and over again. They figured out the headlines and formats that were most effective and they just kept running the same ones. Add light reading and a huge list together and what do you get? The promise of a lot of information without putting much work in to get it. No wonder we find them so attractive. Cosmo-style content gets retweeted, shared on Facebook and sent around all the other social media channels more often – because everyone knows other people are attracted to this kind of format. And by sending it on, it makes the person who posted it seem more attractive by association. If you create content that offers Cosmopolitan-style headlines and light, easy-reading body copy, you will get the same results that Cosmo has gotten for decades on end. And those results are very good indeed. New Yorker articles convert The New Yorker produces in-depth, well-written articles that drive home a specific point. When you write content in that same style, you impress the heck out of your reader. They see you’re smart. They see you know what’s going on. And they see you can tell them something they don’t already know. That impression is so powerful that the reader is compelled to investigate further to see what else you can tell them. The more in-depth content they find, the more they think you’re a smart person to check in with often – and the harder it is for them to resist the “subscribe” or “buy” button. This doesn’t just apply to text, but to video and audio as well. An in-depth piece in text, audio or video sucks you in. The more time you spend reading, listening or watching something, the more likely you are to follow up with the source. Those of you who have read the back-of-magazine articles at The New Yorker might be worried this means you have to write incredibly long articles. You don’t. Being interesting is far more important than going on and on about a topic, and even The New Yorker has plenty of short pieces that still offer great insight. For a New Yorker-type article, you need depth, detail and analysis. Those three things empower your reader a lot more than Cosmo-style fluff. Put more in-depth detail and analysis in your writing, and you’ll see your conversion rates skyrocket. So which is the best strategy? It depends on you, of course. Your free offers… or your website- just like some print publications – are driven almost entirely by Cosmopolitan-style headlines and copy. Others are driven by the New Yorker style. But you don’t actually have to choose. You’ll notice that even Cosmo includes at least one in-depth article per issue. And The New Yorker always has a couple of short, lighter items up front. You can use both of these strategies at the same time. And you should. A strategic mixture of both types of content will not only attract a larger number of clients, but also get you much greater conversion. You can also interlink content, so that Cosmo-style content leads to more in-depth New Yorker-type content. Or a Cosmo-influenced headline can pull the reader into a piece with more depth than Cosmopolitan ever dreamed of. In print, magazines normally separate the two styles. The front of the magazine has mostly short, light pieces; the back has longer, more in-depth pieces. Online, you get to be more flexible. You can drive them from light material to deeper, more detailed content so they get a brilliant mix of both kinds of pieces (you’ll get great SEO benefits, too). They’ll be more attracted to you at the same time they’re inclined to convert and check in with you daily. If you want to attract attention (that means more traffic, more readers, and more social media sharing), go with Cosmo-style articles. At a minimum, make sure you’ve crafted a drop-dead attention-grabbing headline. If you want conversion (that means subscribers and paying customers), lean toward New Yorker-influenced articles, with plenty of depth, detail, and thoughtful analysis. And if you want both, give your readers both. Why settle for just one approach? This is the critical information we teach our clients every day. If you’re ready to learn more about this powerful business growth information, or just need help building your business visit us at www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com.

Laser Marketing – How to Create Compelling Content

Scott Hallman — Thu, 12 May 2011 14:32:12 +0000

It’s easy to write about certain topics like celebrities, technology or social media. Everybody wants to know about these topics. But what if your passion is botany, supply chain logistics or cognitive psychology? How can you make these topics compelling when your subject is… boring? In the summer of 2006, an economics book was on the New York Time Bestseller list. The title was provocative and promised to be anything but a boring read. Since I’m not a big fan of economics (hated it ever since college), I skeptically handed over my $25 and took Freakonomics home with me. From the very first page, I was treated to a wild ride through the most bizarre stories that I’d ever encountered. I learned about cheating schoolteachers, self-sacrificing sumo wrestlers… and why drug dealers still live with their moms. Every story taught a boring economic principle in a way that made me want more. I realized that Freakonomics was an instruction manual for transforming boring content into sexy must-read masterpieces. Here’s the bottom line… people love “dot connectors.” Think about this for a moment. Have you ever read something that was a true “aha” moment for you. Could you stop reading at that point… or were you now excited and compelled to continue reading? In fact, weren’t you hanging on every word? Our world is getting more complicated by the second. Every day your prospects are trying to get a handle on what happened yesterday, what’s happening today and what will happen tomorrow. If you connect the dots for them, you can get popular in a hurry. Freakonomics is built around connecting dots in an interesting way. For example, it’s long been an economic principle that almost every choice we make is connected to incentives. Pretty boring stuff – until author Steven Levitt used a story about daycare centers to show how some incentives backfire. When parents began to show up late to pick up little Susie or Johnnie, the daycare center implemented a policy of charging a $3 fine to incentivize parents to show up on time. Unfortunately, the fine wound up incentivizing parents to pay $3 for an hour of babysitting and not feel guilty for showing up late! When you give your prospect’s these “aha” moments, you keep them reading what may otherwise be a so-called boring topic… and have them asking for more. However, headlines still matter. Even with all of our shiny social media tools, good old standby skills like writing great headlines still matter. You can be a masterful storyteller and write killer content, but you will still lose if no one reads any of them. Titles are the closest thing marketers have to a “silver bullet.” So whatever you do, don’t waste them. Do you think that Freakonomics would have been a New York Times Bestseller with the title Aberrational Behavior and the Causal Effect of Incentives? The quickest way to give your boring marketing a facelift is to put some eye-hijacking power into your headlines. In fact, write your headline first before you even start the rest of the ad. It really is that important. Numbers are a marketer’s best friend. One common complaint of marketing collateral is that no one takes them seriously. Let’s face the facts… most marketing plays fast and loose with the facts… and often lacks any type of substantive proof. It’s easy to avoid hard numbers and focus on writing the soft stuff, but Freakonomics shows that this is a mistake. Many marketers are afraid that statistics, equations, and hard facts will scare away our prospects, but that’s not giving them enough credit. The problem isn’t the numbers – it’s that we stick numbers out there without connecting them to a story. Freakonomics uses numbers to reveal a hidden story. Levitt looked up the numbers on standardized tests for Chicago students. On the face of it, this was pretty boring data. This district got this score, while this district got that score. BORING… until those numbers revealed that teachers were cheating. In some districts, teachers received salary boosts when their students performed better on standardized tests – motivating them to fill in a few additional correct answers for their students. The story makes the numbers interesting. The numbers make the story credible. Give it a try. Another good tip is to remember that everyone loves a good mystery. Why would a successful sumo wrestler throw a match? The obvious answer would be that he’s getting paid to do so, but Levitt quickly discovered there was a much more mysterious motivation that drove who won and who lost in Japan’s sumo contests. The answer is buried in psychology, probability and incentives, but the only thing that I care about is that there’s a mystery. Any mystery begs for detective work. We can’t leave well enough alone and we want to know why – especially if someone else is going to do the legwork of figuring out the answer for us. That’s why the CSI series has spun off more offspring than anyone can count. You can use this quirk of human nature to make your topic enticing. Look closely at your content and uncover some old-fashioned mysteries. Now write an ad that presents the mystery and leads your reader through the investigation to its incredibly satisfying conclusion. Another way to present compelling copy is to provide a better way to solve a common problem. Freakonomics uses a powerful set of tools to explain the way the world works. By the end of the book, you can’t help but think that every problem imaginable can be solved with the right incentive, data analysis or storytelling. When you’re finished you feel that there is a better way to tackle your problems. This is what “added value” means. Simply restating a problem is boring. Offering new tools and perspectives to solve problems helps your prospect get closer to their goals – and that makes you someone whose content they’ll want to read every time you come out with something new. For example, does your business have a website? Look at it right now. Do you have the name of your business at the top of the site? I’ll bet you do. Do you have a “menu” of the products or services you provide listed in the body copy? I’ll bet you do. Do you have your name or picture somewhere on the site? I’ll bet you do. What about your phone number? It’s on there too, isn’t it? Well of course it is. EVERY one of these is wrong, wrong, wrong! Your prospects could care less what you have named your business, what you look like, what your name is or what you sell. Why in the world do I need a window cleaner to tell me on their website that they “clean windows?” Why do moving companies tell me on their website that they can move me local or long distance… or that they move both residential and commercial? And yet… they ALL do. Your prospects care about themselves… period. What the moving company SHOULD be telling me as a prospect is that ALL movers claim to be “fully insured.” And legally, they all are. It’s required by law. What no one knows however, is what that “legally” means. Ahhh… are you now interested in what I have to say next? Are you now hanging on my every word because I have just introduced a “mystery?” What pray tell is this “secret” information? Can’t wait to find out, can you? See why all of this works? Well, wonder no more. ALL movers are “fully insured”… PER POUND OF DAMAGE! What does that actually mean? It means that if you have a $5000 plasma screen TV, and your moving company destroys it in the move, they MUST replace it based on 40 cents per pound of damage. That TV typically weighs around 100 pounds, so the moving company is obligated to reimburse you $40 for your $5000 TV. Read the fine print (which of course, no one does). EVER! But since I told you about this startling information in my moving ad, and then went on to tell you that I avoid “ripping off” my moving clients by providing “full replacement value” insurance that reimburses you for the full market value of anything I break, and go on to give you my insurance policy number, name of my insurance agent and that agents phone number for verification, well… who are you going to have handle your next move? Big difference huh? To get devoted prospects who will anticipate your every email, ad, brochure, etc. with rabid enthusiasm, give them solutions… NOT features. This is the critical information we teach our clients every day. If you’re ready to learn more about this powerful business growth information, or just need help building your business, visit us at www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com, where we focus on providing real-world strategies and tactics to BUILD-GROW-MANAGE your business.

The Power Of Laser Target Marketing

Scott Hallman — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:04:22 +0000

Throughout the ProfitNow system, I continuously emphasize the fact that little changes can produce big results overall. One thing you hear me discuss over and over in my training sessions involves laser target marketing. Today’s tip is going to teach you how to use persuasion to dramatically increase your laser target marketing by emotionally influencing your prospects… and in turn, convincing them to buy what you sell. Consider this example… several large surveys show that most people believe a logical discussion… coupled with good data and the right logical supporting facts… are the best ways to persuade a prospect to buy what you sell. Often, they break the persuasion process down to three main steps:

1. Present your proposition clearly, and with conviction.

2. Present your supporting data, with the right facts, logic and information.

3. Structure your “deals” and move on to the close.

But according to Dr. Jay Conger, Director of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California Business School, “Following this process is one surefire way to fail at persuasion.” Why? Neuroscientists have recently discovered that the brain waves we emit when we engage in logical thinking are virtually identical to those we emit when we’re forced to plunge our hands and arms into ice water. It’s painful! Furthermore, these researchers have determined that our brains require 300 percent more effort-measured in calories burned-for heavy thinking, compared with “mental cruising.” No wonder people hate a logical, reasoned approach! Luckily for us, our brains are hard-wired with mechanisms that help us make good decisions without painstaking analysis and reasoning. These mechanisms are known as triggers, but you can also think of them as “hot buttons.” Essentially, they’re the decision-making shortcuts we easily and naturally employ all day long. They are our automatic self-guidance systems. We often don’t even realize we’re using them! Put simply, hot buttons are our navigational aids. They help us make easy, non-analytical, yet correct decisions. There are seven major persuasion elements we all depend on to help us easily make quick, automatic and right decisions. One example is the consistency trigger. Here’s how it works. We all have a kind of database in our brains that records past thoughts and actions. This database provides a sort of roadmap for future decisions. When faced with a new decision, our brain does an instantaneous search for similar past decisions, and we’re oriented to act in a way that’s consistent with our past actions. In short, we do what we’ve done before. A citizen who’s voted for the conservative slate in the past will usually do so again, without bothering to seriously analyze the rhetoric of all the candidates running. Spenders make decisions to keep spending… savers tend to decide again and again to save. Cautious people take careful actions… risk tolerant people do not. That’s not to say that logic has no place in decision-making. But logic tends to come later… AFTER the decision-maker has responded to his or her internal triggers. For example, when people are in the market for a house, they’re often attracted to one that “feels right.” Maybe it reminds them of a place where they used to live. Later, when they’re discussing the house with others, they’ll talk about more logical aspects… the great neighborhood, easy access to the highway, a good school system, and so on. Now, what does this mean for you, the business owner who is in the role of persuader? Knowledgeable persuaders don’t force persuasion partners into icy water! Skilled business owners don’t demand 300% more energy for decisions by their prospects. They help their prospects make good decisions by learning what they want, doing the heavy thinking for them and then determining how to position the discussion to create an emotional reaction.

Skilled persuaders evaluate which of the seven triggers will apply to another person. Then they carefully frame and deliver a presentation based on those triggers. They use facts and figures only when needed… to support a hot button based decision.

An example: A sales rep recently spoke with a client who boasted that his company was successful because he was able to make and implement decisions quickly. Being well versed in persuasion techniques, this astute sales rep wrapped up her presentation to this CEO by saying, “Charlie, you mentioned that you like to make quick decisions-will that be the case here?” Essentially, the rep set up a prime situation for the consistency trigger to operate. The CEO had to be consistent with his prior statement, and the consistency trigger resulted in a handshake, and a $50,000 profit to the sales rep! What’s great is that this formula is fundamental. Hit the right hot buttons to engage the prospect’s navigation system for making correct decisions. Use facts, figures, and logic only when needed to reinforce their hot button based decision. And enjoy the end result as you have now emotionally engaged the prospect with a compelling and persuasive reason to buy what you sell. Once you master persuasion marketing, you will have the unprecedented ability to attract more clients… attract them with greater frequency… at a lower cost… and with total and complete confidence and certainty. That’s the power of laser target marketing. This is the critical information we teach our clients every day. If you’re ready to learn more about this powerful process, or just need help building your business visit us at www.smallbusinessgrowthclub.com.

Creating a Compelling Competitive Advantage to Make Your Business “The Logical Choice”

Scott Hallman — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 10:04:06 +0000

Think back 15 years ago. Coffee was a 65-cent item that came in a Styrofoam cup. It tasted like every other cup of coffee everyone else was offering and there was nothing enticing, compelling or appealing about it. But then someone dared to ask this question: “If I could create the ultimate coffee experience, what would that look like?” Brilliant question. And what did that question produce? Seductive art-deco boutiques… Americano, Cappuccino and Mocha… Baristas in place of clerks or waiters. And a multi-billion dollar juggernaut industry was born. Starbucks had a clear vision: make the $2-4 cup of coffee an affordable luxury. Re-invent a commodity and create an extraordinary experience. Starbucks has successfully created a competitive compelling advantage… and in the process made their business the only logical choice for most people to purchase their morning coffee from. So stop and think for a moment. If you could create the ultimate FANTASY about YOUR product, service or business, what would it look like? When you create a compelling competitive advantage that’s centered around your customer’s ultimate fantasy buying experience, your business literally becomes the middle kingdom between fantasy and reality. Prospects will read your ads because they pander to that fantasy, and they’ll buy your product as well. Domino’s Pizza built a billion dollar empire selling lousy tasting pizzas to hungry college kids whose ultimate fantasy was to receive fresh, hot pizza FAST! Domino’s wasn’t going after the market segment that wanted the best pizza or the segment that wanted atmosphere – it went after the segment that demanded their pizza get to them fast. And through this simple distinction, they revolutionized the pizza industry and became The Logical Choice. But here is the amazing part. Domino’s used the exact same cooking equipment and exact same pizza business know-how as everybody else in their industry. Were they the innovators of pizza delivery – NO! Tons of pizzerias delivered… just not fast; therefore the pizza was often cold and the kids were restless when the pizza arrived. Domino’s claimed “Delivery in 30 minutes or less or it’s FREE!” This became their primary advantage that met the needs of their newly defined market position – the busy college kids that wanted food fast. FedEx let it be known that they could absolutely, positively deliver your package anywhere in the world overnight. Even dog food is getting in on the act. Purina now makes a premium line of dog food they named “Canine Creations” and specifically targeted it at the well-to-do dog owner. Their tag line emphasizes their competitive advantage… “Chef Inspired… Dog Desired.” Do any of these competitive advantages sound familiar? “The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hand.” “It helps build strong bones 12 ways.” “Get the body you want, in half the time.” “Discounted diamonds – unmatched quality, untouchable price, unbeatable guarantee.” Each and every one of these has a compelling competitive advantage. Just remember that if you can fulfill a fantasy for an exceptional value (NOT low price), who can refuse that? Your Compelling Competitive Advantage is not a program… but instead, your business philosophy that should direct your entire future marketing and operational program.

The Truth About Selling “Value”…

Scott Hallman — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:07:50 +0000

Recently, I read a wonderful article in Go-To-Market Strategies regarding the topic of selling value versus price. If you have been a Small Business Growth Club member for any period of time, you have undoubtedly heard me say repeatedly that your prospects don’t buy price… they buy value. That’s why you must first focus on identifying the specific things your ideal client wants… and then looking for ways to innovate your business so you not only give them what they want… you go above and beyond what they were expecting. All small business owners, at some point in time, are faced with the pressure to negotiate price. This is especially true for those of you who sell, or want to sell at the higher end of your market. There are many schools of thought about dealing with this common sales objection, but the general consensus is to steer the prospect away from the conversation of price and toward a discussion of VALUE. But what is value? Technically, value means “the amount of money or relative worth that is considered to be the fair equivalent for what’s to be received in return.” Should be easy to identify and communicate, right? If it were only that easy. The truth about selling value is that it sounds much easier than it is to actually do. Why is that? The reason is two-fold:

Value is in the eye of the buyer, not the seller (what you think has value may not have relevant value to the buyer). We see it time and time again. A company believes they have a value proposition that matters to the buyer, but in the end…it’s not enough. What your customer values, and what they’ll pay for it, are often at odds. Don’t get caught in the fallacy that what you’re providing… and at the cost you’re providing it… will be considered “value” by your buyer. We always recommend that you survey your customers and define your value proposition based on what you find.
Buyers assume value is a given…what they really want is VALUE-ADD. When you look at the definition of value again, you can see that this is true. Buyers come to the table assuming that what they’re going to pay for something will be a “fair equivalent” for what they’ll be receiving. What they’re really looking for is a good value. No matter the price point, buyers want to know that what they’re buying is worth more than what they’re paying. As you define your value proposition, look for things you offer that add exclusive yet relevant value, but are included in your price. Make those value-added offerings a tangible part of your messaging!

So, as you begin to develop your “value pitch,” remember these two very important things…your value must be RELEVANT to your buyer… and it must be an EXCLUSIVE (meaning only you offer it) value-ADD. Innovation at its best… Let me give you a quick example of this. There is an advertisement I see continuously on TV for LaQuinta Inns. I have stayed at LaQuinta several times in the past and have always found them clean and comfortable. I would rate them in the middle of the road for hotels. They’re better than Motel 6 but not on the same level as a Hilton. So what are they highlighting in their advertisements? They focus on the fact that they have recently remodeled their sleeping rooms and their lobbies. And guess what? They have COMPLETELY missed the boat. Rooms and lobbies are NOT the hot button issues with travelers. First of all, I EXPECT a nice room when I go to a LaQuinta Inn. In fact, the rooms they show me in their ads actually look tackier than what I remember when I last stayed there. The rooms look exactly like a room in a Motel 6. As for the lobby, how much time did you spend in the lobby at the last hotel you stayed at? Who cares anything at all about the rooms or the lobby? No one… because they expect both of those to be nice. The key to selling value is to give your prospects what they want and expect so you don’t disappoint… but then “innovate” your business so you blow them off the face of the earth by exceeding what they expect. If I owned a LaQuinta Inn and my ideal client was a family of four enjoying vacation time, then I know they expect a nice room, clean sheets and towels, probably a swimming pool for the kids and a continental breakfast in the morning. Bu that’s what they EXPECT… so I better make sure I offer all of those. But what if during check-in, I inform them that they will receive, as part of our service, a 5 minute vacation analysis with our concierge. During the meeting with the parents, the concierge discovers the family is on vacation… and they plan to take the kids to Sea World in San Diego, Disneyland in Anaheim and Universal Studios in Hollywood. What if the concierge handed them discounted tickets to each of the parks, discounted meal coupons at restaurants close by all of those parks, provided them with free passes to a live filming of one of the kids favorite TV shows and then handed them a Garmin GPS locator to make sure they never get lost during their adventure? And all of this is complimentary. Think they might “notice” this service? Think they might just mention this to friends, family, relatives, acquaintances and business associates when they return home? Think the local newspaper, radio and TV stations “might” be interested in doing a local news spot on this hotel offering this remarkable “standard” service? Now, you might be asking what all of this would cost LaQuinta. All of the discount coupons are provided by the parks. Same thing for the meal discounts from the restaurants. The ONLY cost LaQuinta would incur would be to purchase the Garmin GPS locators for a hundred bucks… and they would last for years. By the way, what if the hotel created a special “vacation package” that included all of these services and discounts? Think they could charge an additional 20% per day for the room rate… and get it all day long? You wouldn’t be able to book the demand for this hotel fast enough. See what I mean by “value?” It truly is in the eye of the beholder. That’s why we encourage you to focus on ways you can “innovate” your business. If you massively innovate your business, marketing becomes easy. The value becomes so apparent all you have to do is just mention it without worrying about fancy words or magic phrases. Try it and see if it works for your business. I guarantee you won’t be sorry.

Taking a “Success Inventory” To Discover Hidden Profits in Your Business

Scott Hallman — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:26:04 +0000

Today I am going to share with you the first step in dramatically improving the results of everything you ALREADY do well – marketing campaigns, sales processes, lead generation techniques, upsells, referrals, collections, inventory management and so on. I am talking about adding 5%, 10% or even 20% improvements to things like increasing your sales conversion rates by 20% or shaving 10% off the time it takes to perform key tasks. Perhaps the best part is that none of these incredible added streams of profit will cost you a dime to implement, and you will meet little or no resistance from your staff, and only praise from your customers. Often I see businesses get so focused on fixing things or scrambling for new business that they make the painful mistake of ignoring the procedures and systems that are the key to their success. But the fact is that these very systems are the easiest to improve and see instantaneous, measurable results. Finding EASY Profits The first step of the four part series we call “Leveraging Your Success” is to take a “Success Inventory”. This involves taking an inventory of everything that is working well in your company — marketing campaigns, sales processes, lead generation techniques, upsells, referrals, collections, inventory management and so on. Then evaluating your current procedures (whether in writing or not) to spot opportunities for improvement: WOW! Scott that is a real revelation &.well, yes. It is. And you will be amazed what simple breakthroughs you will make by spending just a few minutes on this process. In working with thousands of companies, less than 2% have done this process (and only 4 have done all four steps of the Leverage Your Success System). Let me use a real-life example to illustrate the power of this simple process. A Physical Therapy client produces thousands of dollars in profit every month by cross-selling a medical device to their patients. Basically the process involved asking the patient, at the conclusion of treatment, if they wanted to purchase the piece of equipment that required a medical necessity and prescription from the patient’s attending physician, and a pre-approval from the insurance company. We revisited the undocumented “success best practice” and broke down the process. As we did this, we identified several simple ways to dramatically improved results — pre-approval was done day one. We streamlined the process and increased conversion rates by 27%. The important distinction here is that there was tons of improvement potential on something that was all ready super successful. There are two areas to quickly spot improvements: 1) Systemization This is where you have a process that works well but it is not being done consistently – essentially because you do not have written procedures to follow or a mechanism to measure and monitor outcomes. Systemization also includes techniques or procedures that are being left to individuals to do “their own way” instead of modeling the best way. In these cases, you will experience tremendous variance in performance — as was the case between Negotiator A and B. 2) Process Improvement Process improvements include procedures that are relatively systematic but where there is clearly an opportunity to improve certain elements or steps in the process that will make a measurable difference. This is often the fastest way to increase profits. After all, you have a documented procedure. Your staff follows the procedure and is getting results. Therefore, you can easily make changes (test) that often produce profound results. What are some successful procedures where you can improve one or more elements that will incrementally improve results? Write down 2-3 tasks and then evaluate the process to spot easy improvements.